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August 2000

Tuesday August 1, 2000
8:30a - 11:00a
South Shore - /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet, occ 6
Cloudless sky; Almost windless- pure glass

(Makan, brother Chris, super clean, leashless no swim, monster fun, Lena, Francine)

Saturday August 5, 2000
7:30a - 10:30a
South Shore - /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet
Mostly clear sky; light-moderate sideshore winds

(Solo, leahless, no swim, good sesh)

Sunday August 6, 2000
6:45a - 9:30a
East Shore - /NB, PR/
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face 4 feet, occ 5
Overcast; Strong onshore winds

(Neal, one wave NB, Neal dig cam)

Tuesday August 8, 2000
3:00p - 6:30p
South Shore - /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet
Mostly cloudy; Moderate sideshore winds

(Solo, girl lost board, fair sesh)

Friday August 11, 2000
4:00p - 6:00p
South Shore - /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet, occ 6
Overcast; Strong sideshore winds

(Solo, leashless, mega swinfest, epic flail session. Todd gone yesterday)

Sunday August 13, 2000
8:00a - 11:00a
-----
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-9 feet
Mostly sunny; Moderate offshore winds

Brother Rich and Sponge are off-island so MM and I headed out in the budmobile in search of quality surf and minimal crowd. The south swell arrived as forecasted but not as big as predicted. (Halfway out, we had to inch past an early morning car accident on the freeway. Demolished vehicles and a body on the road covered head to toe by a white sheet was a grim sight). Ocean conditions were very good all along the coast; After stopping at a few breaks we decided to commit to an additional 20 minutes drive to check one of the spots furthest up the coast.

The decision turned out to be a good one. We pulled up onto the sand, stoked to see well over head waves and crisp green barrels firing left and right. The tide was coming in and the rights were looking makeable, but still pretty sketchy. This wave can be funky and hard to judge; It's very powerful and a wicked backwash sometime comes into play also. Hard to resist those beautiful square barrels though.

About 15 minutes into the surf, I saw MM effortlessly bottom turning into a left hander as I ducked the same wave. It quickly jacked to 1.5xoh as it felt the reef ledge. The last image before I submerged was him casually pulling into what looked to be a nasty closeout. A second later I popped out the back, turned around to look and expected to see him and his board in the soup...nothing.. .. then I looked further down and saw him a few yards off the beach, riding off the back of the wave, hands in the air and huge smile! Later we would talk of the tube rides that made our day.

For me, paddling out into the lineup turned into a small reunion of sorts. Lots of howzits, long time no sees, etc. Rusty was killing it, his first or second wave was one of the bigger sets of the morning, (riding a longboard) he bottom turned goofy, as he came up the face he switched to regular and pulled into a short but sweet tube, fully covered, then flew onto the shoulder switching stance again to do a deep backside roundhouse. Funny, as teenagers I remember some of us teasing him for constantly switching stance (I've forgotten which stance he started with). Now he's so polished and fluid it's hard to believe he's the same skinny surf rat I knew back in the late 70's & early 80's.

Johnny Boy was attacking each wave he rode with his trademark power and abandon, but  in the lineup he was unusually mellow and quick with a smile. I'm sure the hometown lineup and surroundings had much to do with it. Asking about brother Rich, I told him that his ship was in Cali and he was surfing Imperial Beach as we spoke. I was surprised to see 4 or 5 other surfbuds from way back, more surprised that we all recognized each other...

The number of surfers in the lineup fluctuated radically, cycling from out of control, then half hour later very manageable, and so on. A large portion was always bodyboarders since this spot is very well suited for sponging- jacking walls and spitting tubes over shallow water.

I was having a below average session and got seriously worked several times before I nabbed the wave that made my week. I was paddling back out from a right, somehow a sweet double-up slipped past the lineup. The wave in back broke a bit and threw some whitewater down the face of the wave in front, making it catchable for me without paddling for it- only had to turn and cock my board.

But I underestimated the push from the whitewater jumpstart and I couldn't stand till I was almost at the bottom of the wave. The extra speed and late stand up caused me to get too far out on the flat. By now, the double-up was one wave, jacking hard and 2-3 feet over head. When I recovered from the take off, I had lost most of my forward momentum and had to time a slow turn as the wave "caught up" with me. Of course when it did, I was too high up on the face before I had gravity again and the lip was already throwing over me. The rest of the wall ahead looked to be folding over too, so I crouched trying not to get caught in the lip, knowing that if I went over, a bounce off the bottom was certain.

A quick free fall drop on the face and fraction of a second later I was standing upright, deep in a dry barrel and moving fast. Watching the lip peel over me and trying to adjust with the warbles in the wave face (boils from the shallow reef) made the sections I passed very distinct. Seemed like I was in there forever. Toward the end the lip fluttered and clipped me on the head; Temporarily blinded, I instinctively turned slightly away from the wave. When I could see again a moment later, I immediately turned hard toward the shore as the end of the wave was hooking at me and closed out. The wave exploded on either side of me but I squeaked out just in time and managed keep standing, even stepping off my board onto the sand. I was so stoked I could hardly believe it. Definitely one of the longest tube rides I've ever had....Later, one of the lifeguards paddled up to me in the lineup "whoa that was one heavy tube!"- told me that I had fully disappeared and the crew in the tower cheered when I came out.

The set waves were rather inconsistent & by late morning there were almost none. The crowd had ballooned again so I hung on the inside, tagging the head high rights near shore. I felt something ragged on the bottom of my board and saw that my board had been creased. A straight but jagged edged line in the glass, like a run in low pile carpet, ran from the large ding in the rail I had crudely patched a month ago, to the stringer. Faark. Lucky I have a new stick almost done, but so much for this one as a back up.

After a couple quick rides, I headed in to shoot a few minutes of video from the vehicle. Not a single set for the 20 minutes I had the camera ready. MM gave up waiting and came in after catching a short left to the beach.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Wednesday August 16, 2000
3:30p - 6:15p
South west shore- /bpt/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 4.5 feet
Mostly sunny; Moderate onshore winds

(Checked Linas first, Makan, windslop funfest, blast surprise longboarder, board cracked & flexing)

Sunday August 20, 2000
8:00a - 11:00a
-------
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet
Clear skies; Light side-offshore winds

(Neal, MM, Kitsie, very inconsistent)

Monday August 21, 2000
4:00p - 7:00p
-------
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-10 feet
Partly cloudy; Variable winds, glassing off in the eve

(Neal, MM, no one else, enter/exit reef, solid backside snaps)

Saturday August 26, 2000
6:30a - 9:45a
South Shore - /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Cloudy then clearing; Light - moderate sideshore winds

(Solo, leashless, no crowd,  no swim, excellent sesh)

Sunday August 27, 2000
6:45a - 9:30a
South Shore - /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Cloudy then almost clearing; Moderate sideshore winds

(P/up Neal, Makan later windtalking, very good sesh)
 

Thursday August 31, 2000
2::00p - 6:15p
South Shore - Big Rights
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, occ 7
Mostly sunny; Moderate to strong offshore winds

(Solo, new stick good-floaty, swell no show, Francine, last wave iced, surfed fair)