Dolphins, Sunsets, and Awesome Waves - Surfing

Yesterday had to easily be the best day I have had surfing since I began a few months ago. My roommate and I originally decided to try and stand up paddle board based off of the Surfline.com report for our surf spot that was claiming 1-2 ft conditions. Also, the day before it was 1-2 ft and very mild with very few people at the spot on a Sunday. So, based off of these two indicators I thought it would be even slower on a Monday with the same conditions… I was wrong. After we loaded the massive stand up paddle board on to my car we drove down and were completely surprised to see the parking lot packed. After we finally found a spot we walked down to the beach and were even more surprised when we saw 2-4 ft waves that were completely glassy with a nice long wave to ride and plenty to go around. In addition to that, there had to be at least 30 surfers in the lineup as well.

This was not a good day to try and stand up paddle board in the surf with a packed lineup for the first time so we made a decision to book it back to our place and swap out the stand up paddle board for our surfboards. After we got back to our surf spot we paddled out into the most spectacular surf conditions I have seen since I have started. The only down side is that it was packed with surfers of all skill levels so it was a bit of a zoo out there. Right after we paddled out past the break an awesome set came in and because I still had fresh shoulders I was able to turn my board, hit the turbo button, and catch a wave within minutes of paddling out! I have never been able to do that before so that showed me I am making progress and was a good motivator to turn back out and try again.

I caught about 3 waves that I was able to stand up on yesterday. One wave I stood up on and rode down the face of the wave because I was able to pop up quickly. At one point my roommate pointed out in front of me because he spotted a small pack of dolphins that were playing in the waves a few yards out. This in addition to a crystal clear sunset pretty much solidified one of the more epic days this noob has ever seen and will keep me coming back for more in the hopes of experiencing more days like that.

Posted in: Surfing