Damn Aussies and their anchors. They just make it look so damn easy. Drop, stall, pump, spit.
NorCal has been on fire lately, and it's looking fantastic for those of you sticking around for the holidays. Merry Christmas from Ocean Beach. Getjah big drooahps on keedz!
Despite all the banter harking awful paddle-outs and fickle waves, the first two days of the Rip Curl Pro Search "Somewhere in San Francisco" have been a frenzy of excitement. Tubes have been plundered, lips hacked, floaters dropped and history has been made.
Yesterday, on a day that dished out set after set of majestically peeling bombs, the beach was packed in anticipation of Kelly Slater's third round heat. Needing to simply advance through this round to claim an unprecedented 11th World Title, Slater was patient as always.
Paddling out to a northern peak that the field otherwise shunned, he dropped into a few fizzling closeouts and found himself significantly behind Aussie Daniel Ross about midway through the heat. With about ten minutes remaining the King took a chance on a frothing shack, momentarily stealing the crowds breath, but got swallowed up in the belly of the beast.
As the clock churned down to under five minutes, it started to look like it might not be Slaters day, when suddenly a promising set appeared on the horizon. The feathering right opened up teasing him to do his worst. With knifelike precision he accelerated smoothly down the line, systematically linking hack after hack all the way through the inside. The crowd erupted in a frenzy. The King had come to be crowned at Ocean Beach.
While the tour championship may be wrapped up, the contest here in SF is still anyone's to win, and with many competitors on top of their game-- including Owen Wright who blew up a wave following Kelly's heat, in what he thought was free-surf time-- you can be sure that there is more action to come.
Today the competitors are off, and the current projection looks like we won't have anything solid/surfable for at least a few days. When they do return to the water we finish off the third round with Josh Kerr (AUS) taking on Tiago Pires (PRT) and Jordy Smith (ZAF) looking to best American phenom Patrick Gudauskas.
The winners from the final two heats from the third round will face off with Joel Parkinson (AUS). Round four heats are detailed below.
A bit of swell entered the area overnight, but the prevailing high tide and prospect of nasty water conditions, due to the first significant rainfall of the season, was enough to keep us out of the water. California, and other surf friendly locations world wide, are often highly impacted by the run-off from industrial and residential sources. The result- a less than appetizing, toxic oceanic cocktail. Here are a few tips to keep you healthy and enjoying the waves this storm season*:
Avoid surfing for the first 72 hours after a storm event (especially at the beginning of the storm season). Even though the streets may dry-up after a day or two, run-off is still likely to be making it's way down stream from inland locations- resulting in elevated bacteria levels for an extended period of time.
Steer clear of drain outlets, streams, creeks and other areas that offer a lot of outflow. When possible seek out more pristine locations further away from cities and towns.
Wear ear-plugs. Any place where water can enter your body and marinate has the potential to become a breeding ground where bacteria can flourish.
Shower as soon as possible after your session and rinse your equipment.
Move to a remote, pristine tropical island and surf in warm waters- rain or shine- every day.
So while you wait out the storms, get your stick primed for the months to come and mindsurf Ocean Beach until the next sunny day of bombs.
The surf has been super finicky for that last few weeks. June descended- and like clock-work - the valley turned into an oven and began enticing our dear summery fog inland. The result: lots of wind and short period, multi-directional slop. Our plight here is the Bay Area is rather mild, however, when considering that we don't have to live with tar balls rolling onto our beaches like they are in the Gulf. Pro Surfer Sterling Spence put out this clip from a recent session which documents the arrival of the unwanted oily debris. The BP disaster isn't really improving at a visible rate and it reaffirms my lack of confidence in those powerful people in Washington. The worst news I've drawn from this disaster is that this exact Gulf spill scenario took place in 1979, complimented by a smaller Alaskan spill, which, deja vu, happened again a few days ago.
This video blows my mind. The people who we trust to protect us as our "representatives", continue to allow corporations to push their agendas, without implementing any new regulations, requirements, or safety devices over the past 30+ years. The common man will bear the brunt of the pain and suffering, just as they did before.
I overhead a guy at the beach today ranting something to the effect that justice needs to be served. Executions should be in order. I'm not sure if we should be putting someone on the chopping block at the moment, but I do agree that severe penalties should be written into law for those who consciously avoid instilling public safekeeping measures into their business plan. There has been a blatant disregard for the impact of these sorts of operations and little done in the name of proactive emergency planning. Humanity and the environment have far too much at stake to simply bypass these issues.
While I got a little heated about the state of the Gulf today, I was stoked to catch a few jacked up, meager waves in Pacifica. When we pulled up it was maxed out low, but as the tide began to fill in a decent shoulder began to form. Between getting worked on larger sets, we managed a few turns and some sight-seeing. Most notably: a seal charged a guy on a longboard down the line from us. The typically docile creature suddenly made a bee-line for the guy, extended from the water, and swooped for the end of his board with fangs flared. No damage was done, but we sure did fear for our toes for the next few minutes.
My time in the water was short lived due to work- but this classic footage from The Extreme Scene kept my session going strong into the evening.
On the rare mornings in Frisco when the sun has already conquered the fog and it's curiously warm enough to stroll the streets in just a t-shirt- you know that you must make the best of it. With only a few hours to spare before the United States kicked off its quest for World Cup glory I decided to check the swell.
A newer tool in the arsenal of wave predictability is StokeReport- a real-time Bay Area surf report tool, where users upload a brief, twitter-esque blurb about the conditions and can opt to post a picture. While incredibly logical, this tool has the surf community passionately divided. Some people are all for common knowledge and sharing the "stoke", while others see it as another bombardment of their waves, drawing more kooks to the water.
I see the argument on both sides- but considering the beaches the are included, Linda Mar and OB, I don't really have a problem with it. Linda Mar is the most crowded, convenient wave around and is an ugly mess almost every day of the week. OB is big enough to accommodate the city which it backs and the pecking order is well established at the better sandbars. Ya don't f%#$ with the folks at Kelly's Cove unless you want a black eye. What could be a potential problem about this site is if people start to post locations/details which are a little further off the map, exposing less inundated breaks to hoards of meatheads who didn't embark on the search themselves.
I say up with the stoke, but keep it classy. As any good New Englander knows- Loose lips sink ships.
As for babes on SUPS? Well that's a whole different debate.
Baykeeper, the environmental group dedicated to reversing the environmental degradation of the past and promote new strategies and policies to protect the water quality of the San Francisco Bay, recently announced that 90 percent of Bay Area beaches received a clean bill of health for the summer. It attributes higher water quality to improvements to sewage systems funded by a series of clean-beach bonds that California voters have passed over the last decade. It goes on to mention that during the rainy season (winter) most beaches pose a serious health risk from raw sewage run-off. These health risks include intestinal problems, ear infections, skin rashes and respiratory ailments.
I'm not sure if this release is a pat on the back to voters, with hopes of future support on Baykeeper initiatives, but wouldn't it be fair to say that the rainy season washes away most of the pathogens so that by the summer the beaches should be safe for use?
Baykeeper is smart. This group of activists and lawyers sue companies around the bay regularly to promote better industrial practices while taking home a profit. I can't help to feel that the settlements they negotiate require only marginal levels of compliance for the big businesses/polluters. The good news is that anyone who is ambitious enough to decipher such laws as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, or Prop 65, can take these businesses to court and force them to comply- while making a nice chunk of change for themself.
Baykeeper does follow through on a noble initiative, but it does leave me wanting. There is still too much being dumped inconsequentially into the Bay and, as the Gulf is showing, too much at stake. Either way- the summer does offer the best time for foggy adventures and decent water quality in Nor Cal - so if you do plan to head to the beach make sure you hit those beaches which scored highest in our area according to SFGate.
The following Bay Area beaches received A's or B's, year-round, for water quality, according to Heal the Bay:
San Mateo County
-- Rockaway Beach
-- Montara State Beach
-- San Gregorio State Beach
-- Coyote Point
East Bay
-- Alameda Point
-- Most of Crown Beach
San Francisco
-- Aquatic Park
-- China Beach
-- Ocean Beach near Sloat
Marin
-- Every beach, including Stinson, Muir, Bolinas and Drake's
Sonoma
-- Every beach
And be sure to stay away from these Dumps.
These beaches received D's or F's for at least part of the year:
San Francisco
-- Baker Beach near Lobos Creek
San Mateo
-- Lakeshore Park
Contra Costa
-- Keller Beach, Richmond
I'm not sure how Linda Mar scores, but I'm sure I still have some poop in my eyes and ears from this winter, yaaa ummmmm...
Frequently when you head off to the beach to score some quick waves, the first spot you arrive at just doesn't look that fresh. Enter the search. The questions pop up quickly. North or South? Beach break, sheltered cove, or the long haul to a point? Do I have the right board? How about heading back to bed?
Arriving at Ocean Beach this morning we found mixed up, inconsistent wind swell scattered up and down the beach. At mid-beach we hiked the dune to get a better look. Blue skys in every direction were greatly tempered by the frigid breeze hauling off of the Pacific. How about a gander at Pacifica? Sure- can't hurt.
The next lookout- hurtling down the steep curves of Highway 1 into Pacifica. Oh man- it really doesn't look like much here. Then Rockaway- yep, it's flat. Finally hitting the crest over Linda Mar our suspicions were confirmed- nothing.
So we reset our bearings north, and an hour after we began our "quick trip" we were reparked at Ocean Beach. What is it that they say about the grass is always greener.... Once in the water it was actually pretty decent. We managed to post up on a nice little sand bar and as long as you battled the current a bit- little drops, quick spitters, and random ramps were on offer every few minutes.
Well I guess that's just part of surfing. The search is inevitable, but sometimes you gotta just stick with your gut and take what you can get.
How to kill it while working for the man on a leisurely Wednesday:
- Stroll into the office at 11 following a 3+ mile run up the hills of SF, through the woods, and down the Panhandle, having already conducted the days most urgent correspondence from the comfort of your living room
- Celebrate G mans birthday with cake, doughnuts, and candles
- Pitch your favorite outdoor publication of the moment some fine goods from the likes of GoLite, Ryders, GU, and Sugoi
- Follow the practice specified on your Road ID -- Shred all Day Every Day- on the surf, snow, or concrete, just get on your stick.
- Finish with Beer.
We went with the nicely balanced California Ale from the Beach Chalet Brewery - home to a killer happy hour M-F, Adirondack seating in a sun drenched, grassy back yard, and live reggae on the weekends. If you haven't been, make a point of going this summer on a sunny day- but bring a hoody. The conditions are known to change quickly.
Truthfully it's been a LONG time since I did anything closely related to shredding, but at Gordon's prodding we arrived at Ocean Beach around 2pm to find impeccable conditions. 3-5 foot clean, peaky lines were rolling in at a regular interval from the WNW an SW and there were only a few guys and gals out- perfect.
Devon and G are not regular visitors to the heavy beach break of Kelly's Cove but paddled out closely behind me and suddenly we were in the money. I caught an easy left to start, pumped a few times and popped out to find Devon taking off on a nice right bomb. She gracefully slid down the face, raced away from the curl, and with a little turn- set the perfect line to the beach.
I arrived back on the outside just in time to catch Gordon take off into a steep, green drainer of his own. I haven't had this much fun in months, I thought to myself as I dropped and made a quick bottom turn into another steep right. We traded off turns and wipeouts for a solid hour and exited the water with pure elation our faces. There's no place I'd rather be on a sunny, windless day than our very own urban surf paradise.
