I lost my Go Pro?!

This week started off like crap, south winds and windswell chopped up the waves through Wednesday, and I finally made my way out to Uppers on Thursday.  Man was it crowded, the usual Uppers characters + a bunch of randoms, and the waves were broken up with short rides.  I caught a few fun ones, and the morning was awesome so it was still pretty worth it.

 Friday saw longer rides with mostly smaller waves, but it was still pretty solid and fun.  Pretty much the usuals out there, including Matt this time, and some random ripper kid.  Makes sense since the NSSA contest was this weekend. Got out early to fix my chain, which seems to fall off every ride down.  In its defense, it is so rusty I'm surprised it moves at all.


Saturday woke up to another beautiful morning for a paddle surf at Doheny.  Tide was high so the boneyard was the spot, just me and this cool old guy for a while.  I put the Go Pro on the tail which sucked, the pics look like crap and as I was trying to switch from pic to vid, the cam flew of the clip and into the water.  It was only 4 ft deep but it was 6 AM and dark and high tide with plenty of waves.  No way I was going to find it then. 
So I stayed out another hour and some more people came out but it was still manageable.  Except this 12 year old kid who was trying to SUP surf but couldn't and ended up being in the take off zone over and over again. 
Came back at 10 with the fam to search for the cam.  I remembered the spot I lost it but was having a terrible time seeing anything, it was murky and the waves were still breaking.  Then I started searching a touch more inside and there it was, face down in some rocks in about 8 inches of water.  Still worked, no scratches, halleluiah. 
Sunday got my ride on, having trouble finding people to go with so I end up going solo.  Going mid-day kind of sucks cuz its hot and you end up running into locals you don't want to see, but luckily I only saw one.
 Got an hour 15 ride up Pine Crest with its epic views, 3/4 down OE and back up OE, then down TNA where I got a neat shot in the trees at the bottom. 

All and all, a decent week of surfing and riding.

Stiff offshores suck for paddleboarding

Last week's surf was not bad, didn't go until Wednesday thanks to the strong onshores on Sunday and Monday, which kept the surf bumpy on Tuesday.  While Richard was scoring the waves of his life in Kandui, Matt and I met at Uppers for some windswell waves.  Water was warmer than expected and skies were clear for a change, crowd was chill, just one other guy for the most part, and we got an hours worth of short lived 1 turn waves.  A few longer ones connected and Matt caught the best ones, it was nice to catch up and talk about the kids.  He's planning to go for a third anytime now, yikes!  We both agreed, while not great this kind of session is 100x better than head high and 60 guys. 
On to Thursday, decided to paddle surf since I expected it to be 2 foot and we were leaving for Paso at 9.  Got to Doheny at 5:50 and it looked awesome, low tide, 2 ft and offshore.  Turns out offshore is bad, I felt like a kite out there, my hands were freezing, and the wind blew me off of several waves.

  A few sets came through at about chest high, bet those were head high + at uppers with nobody out. The wind backed down with the sunrise and I caught some good ones, as the big sets were very sporatic and 2 ft was the norm.  Put the gopro at a new angle, not sure I like it but it shows a little more of the wave.

Got home from Paso on Sunday to south winds, fog, and mini combo windswell.  Gave strands a shot on the body board to try and get some barrel shots.  Haha, that didn't work!

To surf or to ride?

The classic argument for me every weekend.  Do I go surfing (or paddling) or mountain biking?  I only can do one per day, as I need to max out my time with the fam before the workweek starts where i'm gone for 10 hours a day.  MTB provides consistency, better exercise, and a bigger thrill (or chance of impairing yourself).  It also provides more solitude for you and your friends, as even busy trails are nothing like a crowded day in the water. 
But, while I love MTB, it isn't surfing and I have been leaning towards getting wet lately.  Today felt like it would be a packed day at the beach and the Doheny cam had easily 50 guys on it, so I opted for ride. 
Couldn't find anyone to go with, so I went solo.  I usually don't like Solo because all the climbing can be boring, but I have plenty to think about and can get a lot more riding in at my own (efficient) pace.  Today's ride was marie calenders, an epic hour+ long adventure across all of laguna wilderness park. 
Lot of undulations make for hard work and some short rocky decents make for plenty of fun.  An adjustable seat post is a must, luckily I have a new reverb.  Good day out, I always feel better after a hard ride.  I'm hungry, exhausted, and feel like I accomplished something.

Nothing great

Didn't surf much this week, swells were mostly weak W windswell and south winds were on it on Monday.  Richard and I tried to surf Tuesday, and there were a few OK racers at uppers but it was generally pretty weak.  But only 4 of us out and partly cloudy skies made up for it, and was definitely worth it.  Wednesday no go as I didn't have my car and the tide was filling in too much for a Doheny Paddle.  By friday, a new South swell filled in.  2ft@20 and a surfline forecast of 3-4+ means summer crowds.  It was pretty busy by 6:15 and these kind of days are my least favorite.  I would rather have Tuesday's weak day rather than bigger inconsistent waves with lots of people.  I plan to start visiting church again.