Chatting with my son last night who lives on the bay area coast, first paddled him out at OB when he was 14, been on it now for the past 21 years.
Telling me how crowded OB has become, more and more a free for all of transplants, commuters, visiting pros, wanna-be pros, increasing SUP’s, drop-ins and hassles becoming common.
Meanwhile, up here, if you don’t join the morning crew, you’re usually on your own.
Showed up at the beach today to watch a couple of friends taking their last waves in, leaving an empty lineup.
Sat on a bench for a while mindsurfing the well overhead sets,
then took a pic before I left for the gym to continue hip replacement rehab.
The Tech Bubble-(transplants) is back and it has been remarkably surfable since the holidays. I got hosed on a head & 1/2 + wave last week form a guy that took off less than three feet in front of me.I let him know I was right behind him on the drop. When paddling back out he said sorry I didn’t hear you in time. If he had let me know he was blind or something I would of gave him the wave. The next day it was a little bigger…no issues at all.
Oregon coast -which just like OB has been firing non-stop since Xmas (Make regular trips down there to visit family, and depending on swells and wind, surf with my son anywhere from OB to SC and the many points in between).
We’re having the same drought conditions as the bay area…which means we’ll probably only get 40 inches of rains this winter instead of 90 inches…lol
Okay, I won’t complain about how cold I think it is in florida now. I will say I’m going out tomorrow on hopefully some chest high surf with offshores and 63 degree water and hopefully mid 50’s air temps.
[ for the fahrenheit dinosaurs [?!] … that translates to about 48 degrees F ]
16 would be a 'warm ’ maximum here , in winter . Water temp is often around 12-13 degrees [add 15 and double it , for fahrenheit approximation]
windchill factor is usually at least 5 or more degrees too.
I’m missing west australia… 17 degree water in winter , 21 sometimes in summer
Mind you , its summer here in oz , now …
in west oz [my old stomping grounds , scarborough beach] , they had air temperatures of 42 degrees C [102 plus] for days in a row, recently …, and water temperatures were a balmy 22-23 degrees . "Trunking it "material [ …compared to …wetsuits ALL year round , here in the south east ]
Here in vicco , this summer [so far] … mostly 20 - 27 degree days . And still a few 9 degree [!] minimums, at night … while perth more often in summer gets 20 degree minimums at night …
But , just imagine what ‘Swaylockian’ ’ SirW.A.L. ’ went through … moving from HAWAII to JAPAN ! [… where he has to deal with SNOW in winter , there ! … seasonal affective ‘disorder’ ain’t no fantasy…]
me too. Befriended a Margie’s charger during a G-Land trip back in the day, he later put me up at his Margies home for a month. The water, the colors, the waves, the folks…as good as it gets…Margies, Boat Ramp, The Bombie, Northpoint…came home the most surfed out from any trip, ever…