Last week was a busy one, I didn’t get to surf everyday as I wanted to but what I did get to surf I got some great sessions in.

The Surf Bloggers’ Code requires concealing the identity of any break that is not well known or clearly visible from a main road. Some break names are pseudonyms and will only say that they are somewhere on the Lonely Coast between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. – wave journal of a norcal surfer girl

Sunday:
After Beth and I got our new Palm Pre’s we headed out to meet SurferGrrrl and S at “Seal Beach”. I had a pretty good session with a number of decent rights and a left or 2 on my short board. The way the winds blow offshore at this spot is amazing and I had a great time. I felt bad that a migraine shut down C’s session as the waves were almost perfect.

Monday:
Too busy to surf

Tuesday:
Too Busy to Surf

Wednesday:
I had planned to surf in Santa Cruz this morning before my meeting with Bruce and my Interview, however this was not to be. After picking up my longboard at Homegrown Surf shop I headed down to Santa Cruz, checking Cowells and Steamers and finding nothing worth suiting up for, I got some lunch and headed up 17 to Adobe. After my meetings that all went very well, I needed 1 thing to make the day perfect, some good waves. Good waves were not to be found however, but I took what I could get. I pulled in to Kelly Ave. at about 7:30 and saw some sloppy messy knee high chop with an occasional shoulder, I thought what the hey and suited up and went in. I caught a few lefts and a right on my freshly repaired longboard and was stoked. Not my best session but it was the perfect way to cap the day.

Thursday:
Too Busy to Surf

Friday:
I got all my confirmation stuff in with my speaking at MAX, and I was at a good stopping point in my coding so I suited up and headed out to score some waves. I checked Kelly first as it was closest but while it was super clean it was also overhead and short period. I really wanted to take out my longboard so I moved on. I headed down to a nice spot that I have been surfing that never has a crowd. It was empty as it usually is but looked significantly smaller than Kelly from the Beach. I was wrong about this. Since it was such a warm day I thought I would try something different, I gave up my booties and went barefoot. I suited up and headed out, finding that the waves were a bit bigger than expected. I powered through to the outside working hard to paddle over waves that were much larger than I was used to. A set came through and I paddled hard and caught, making the drop, and freaking the !@!@# out of me as I didn’t realize the size. I dropped my shoulders and made the bottom turn only to look up and see the lip 2 feet above me! I had just dropped and landed my first overhead wave with my longboard! Eventually the lip caught up to me and collapsed on my head but I had just rode one of my biggest waves yet. There was a extremely strong southern rip current along the beach so I had to get out of the water after each wave, walk back up the beach then drift into position for the wave again. It worked pretty well and I did it 4 times nailing 3 solid overhead waves. Usually I don’t solo in overhead surf but It was great and I was completely stoked after. Also I think I had too much adrenaline pumping to even notice my feet were colder than normal.

Saturday:
Another trip down to “seal beach” this time we brought a picnic lunch and setup on the beach.

Beth and I dragged our wetsuits, my longboard and her boogie board as well as a ton of food and blankets down to the main beach area. We were so happy to be at this spot with only a small amount of people on it. Every break, beach or nook from Half Moon Bay to “seal beach” was packed with people trying to escape the extreme heat of inland and enjoying the sun on the coast. Having a beach that only a few know how to get to is worth its weight in gold on days like this. After hauling all of our stuff down to the beach, I decided I needed to get wet asap. I didn’t want to go struggle with my wetsuit so I just threw on a pair of swim trunks and paddled out on my longboard. After the initial shock of 54°F water, I got used to it and paddled hard to keep my blood flowing. The worst thing about riding with so little gear on was a rash I got on my chest from the wax. I need to invest in some more gear if I want to stop using my wetsuit every time I surf. So with my successful experiment in wetsuitless surfing I came back on the beach and enjoyed my lunch with Beth while waiting for SurferGrrrl to show up. Once all the players were there we suited up and headed out, Beth stayed in the white water enjoying her boogey board, while C and I went after the rights and lefts at this spot. Just as we were heading out, the spot cleared out and for a good half hour there was only 1 other surfer in the water besides us. While C went for the lefts, I worked hard on the rights with my longboard eventually nailing a solid long ride from the peak to a really nice long way down the beach before kicking out. It was one of my better waves. After working hard at the main peak, we moved down to the secondary and worked on some skills, me going left and C duck diving. It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Sunday:
D&D day, no surfing was up too late the night before. One interesting thing happened on Sunday, the tech crunch, scobleizer, friendfeed, mobfeed blow out happened, this lead to a number of blog posts and some comments eventually winding up with Robert Scoble taking me up on my offer I made back in march, to take him out surfing.

Monday:
Great day, I taught Fireworks and iPhone UI design to a new client who bought me one of the most amazing lunches I have had in a while. I should know better than to stop in to Sonlight with cash in my pocket. My plan was to just go in for some wax and to say hello to Robin and Dan, the amazing people that own and run the place, how ever this changed after I got there. I had been thinking the past 2 days about my experience surfing without a suit at “seal beach” the water there is 5-6°F colder than the water in Half Moon Bay or 10-12°F colder than the water in Santa Cruz. Since I tolerated without too much of an issue, I talked to Robin about boardshorts and something to protect my chest from the rashes as well as provide a bit of warmth. She presented me with a few options, first were wetsuit jackets which are like a rash guard but made out of neoprene, I tried 2 on but when I tried to paddle they did not feel right. I then tried on a 1mm surfing vest, and it was just what I needed. I also picked up a pair of RipCurl Board shorts to match the vest, and I am now set to go out without a wetsuit. I couldn’t wait until I got home to try these out, so I stopped at the jetty on my way home, threw on my new gear (much faster changing!) and headed out to my favorite spot. I got a lot of “is this guy nuts” looks from around the line up, but once I got over the initial 3-4 minutes of cold water shock, I adjusted and had a blast, feeling more free but colder. I seemed to be able to get into waves, and it seemed that many of the other surfers gave me a wider berth than normal. I had a blast and spent about 45 minutes out in the water. I came out not because I was cold, but because I had another session planed for that night.

2nd session:
After writing a few comments on scobleizer.com, Robert replied that he wanted to finally take me up on my offer of Surfing. I called him and setup to pick him up at 6:00ish at his place. After an amusing few minutes watching Robert put on a wetsuit for the first time (this is always amusing for any surfer to watch someone put on a wetsuit for the first time) we loaded up and headed out to the Jetty. After meeting up with SurferGrrrl and some instruction for Robert, we hit the waves.

I loaned Robert my longboard and I went out with my shortboard, after realizing that 2 boards with only 1 person knowing how to use them was a bad combo, I put mine on the beach and went out to teach Robert the art of riding the ocean with a piece of wood, foam and fiberglass. He did very well considering that this was only his second time surfing in his life and the first time outside of the baby waves in Hawaii that the tourists go to. The Jetty had picked up considerable power in the 3 hours I had been away from it and was now having overhead barrels at the first peak. While this is awesome to watch, it was not what I had in mind when teaching someone new to surf. Robert, was a great sport and he paddled and caught 4 waves in. Surfing is very tiring if you are not used to it and after about 35 minutes in the water, Robert was done. He was kind enough not to mind me going out after a few of my own, while watching from the beach. I nailed 2 solid rides on the shortboard and called it a night. Extremely stoked to share my love of surfing with a friend. Topping off the night was a great burrito at Tres Amigo’s in half moon bay. Does anyone know why Mexican seems to be the perfect after surfing food?