What do you do when you paddle out to your local break and find yourself in a bad position? That’s what happened today. Emily and I paddled out at the south end at Linda Mar today, and by the time we battled out through walls of close outs conditions had changed. Tide was rising and the wind was picking up.

By the time I thought I was on the outside a OH close out was almost on top of my head. Emily just made it. The wind was crazy and the giant waves were blowing every which way. By the time we made it all the way out we just decide to paddle a bit north and try to get in during a lull. Well, there really no lulls, so we battled our way in.

I saw no one catch …

Before we left the loft we checked the forecast. It was 2 – 3 feet with some corners. The wind and the rain was not suppose to start until 6 pm. To our surprise when we got to the parking lot it looked exactly the same. We were stoked after several days out of the water.

As soon as we got out of the Jeep the weather changed quickly. At first it started drizzling. By the time we got down to waters edge it was raining. We both caught a couple of waves, and then the wind picked up. Then it really started to pick up! Soon after the rain started coming down hard. In the course of 30 minutes we went from good conditions to surfing a storm. We both had a blast!

At one point the wind and …

Because of work and client calls we didn’t get down to Linda Mar until about 1:20 pm, which is the latest we’ve surfed in over a month. What a difference a few hours make. We heard reports from some of our friends earlier in the day that said it was pretty awesome there. By the time we showed up it was getting pretty messy.

The waves were rolling in on top of each other with lots of chop. It was kind of crazy. We both managed to catch a couple, and get closed out on a few times. I reality I don’t care what the conditions are like on any given day as long as I go out. Still had a great time! :)

#139 / #45 for 2011 1:40 pm

Tried my new Harbour 9.0 Banana again today at Linda Mar. I caught a couple of decent rides, but nothing to write home about. However, the waves were awesome today. They were breaking right and left, and it was fairly glassy. It could have used a bit more power which would have made the day perfect. Still, there were a lot of corners, and you could get a fairly long ride if you were in the right place, at the right time.

Surfing with my wife, the sun, and the waves – it was an awesome day! :)

#138 / #44 for 2011 10:50 am

Yesterday was not one of my best sessions. However, today was awesome! When we pulled into the parking lot we saw Izzy with a big stoke smile. He recounted how he just got barreled – grinning the whole time. After he gave us his perfect oceanside parking spot we sat there for a minute and stared at the incoming waves. Emily and I looked at each other – smiled and said awesome. The waves were shoulder to head high and glassy. The sun was shining, and the best shoulders at LM were relatively uncrowded.

As our white haired buddy Bruce from Seal Beach would say, “let’s ride” – that’s what we were thinking. And, ride we did. The lineup had a friendly vibe today and the waves were rolling in. Today all my rides were lefts, and Emily’s were rights. We …

Surfed with Emily at Linda Mar today. Caught a couple of knee high close-outs on my new board. Was it crowded on a sunny Saturday? Yes. How were the waves? Meh. BTW, did I mention that the south end of Linda Mar smelled like poop today.

#136 / #42 for 2011 11:45 am

Generally, I don’t measure an epic day by the size of the waves, but more by the shape, and consistency. By those standards today was truly epic. When we first got out to the beach with our boards the waves looked a bit smallish. Also, there were only three other surfers out. At Seal Beach this is unusual.

There was a family of three out with M & M – a father and two sons from Utah. Except Joe, all of the other regulars were missing. Bruce had been by earlier and passed. It would have been even more fun if he was there. He’s an awesome dude!

Emily and I caught more quality waves in one day than ever before. Right, lefts, s-curves, cut-backs – it was all happening today. We even got to touch the wave a few times. …

When I got up this morning my shoulder was still hurt fairly bad from yesterdays session. We had come a long way to surf here so I had to try to go out. Unfortunately it was a very short session.

I suited up and headed out despite the pain. The waves were smaller than the last few days, but the waves were perfectly formed. I paddled for five waves and missed them all. My paddling had no power, and my pop-up hurt so I headed in. Emily had another excellent day, and for once I had the pleasure of watching her from the beach.

I’ll give it another try tomorrow. :)

#134 / #40 for 2011 9:00 am

Yesterday afternoon I purchased a new Harbour 9.0 Banana. This particular board matched the size and shape that my surf instructor had suggested. It’s a thicker version of the board Emily bought yesterday which was a Harbour HP 1. Both boards are high performance longboards. I still love my 10.0 Bruce Jones Noserider, but I wanted something a bit shorter with more performance features for the upcoming winter in NorCal.

The new board really worked out well. It took some getting used to, but by the end of the session I was making most of the waves on it. I caught some nice lefts and rights and I found that the board was very responsive, and turned on a dime. The size and shape of the board plus the high performance fin really made a difference.

Emily was also outstanding …

It was Saturday at M & M Surf School which means lots of students. Instead of one or two other surfers there was over twenty today. It’s definitely fun with more people, but the downside is less personal attention. It was fun seeing some of the weekend regulars that we met last time we were here like Keith and Carl. Plus we met a bunch of new friends which is always fun.

The day started out pretty nice and Emily and I caught a bunch of fun rides. About halfway through the session the dreaded backwash reappeared which makes wave selection critical. We saw a lot of boards flying through the air today, and getting back to the outside took a while. This usually meant waiting for a lull and then paddling like mad to beat the next set. If you …