Today was supposed to be a special day and it already has been. Storm surf from three storms was arriving. On special days, I like to go to the Ocean Beach pier because it’s usually a foot bigger than my home break in PB and shooting the pier makes catching waves doubly exciting! So, when I saw the report a few days ago and knew a storm was coming, I had to plan things accordingly. The trick was going to be to catch some meaty waves before the storm actually hits, rains all over us and washes shit into the water. So far, so good.
I rolled down to my adopted break at the OB pier. I got there first thing in the morning at 11am. As the report said, there were some lulls and the big sets were a little inconsistent. However, I eventually saw a wave or two that would probably power me through the pier. I wasn’t satisfied with this today, so I went down to Sunset Cliffs. To me, Sunset Cliffs was a place I went a few times with Mark Baldwin and a couple of girls when I was 16 years old. Good times. But it was never a place where I caught waves. This all changed today.
The cliffs stretch for several miles along the coast above Ocean Beach. They’re quite beautiful and the views are amazing. I took the picture above with a new iPhone application that improved the mexapixels from 2 to 4. I just downloaded it last night and it seems to work nicely.
The first place I stopped at the cliffs had some nice, big, rolly waves. It looked excellent, but nobody was in the water. I even saw a spot where I could climb down the cliffs and hop in. This puzzled me a bit because there were a number of surfers about 100 yards North and 100 yards South of this area. I watched for awhile, listened to some music and even talked to a passerby about the break. He said someone died last year in this part and that it was a bit dangerous because of the rocks. If there were just a person or two in the water here, I would have went for it. I don’t like it crowded, but I also don’t like to be the only person in the water. As far as I’m concerned, that could be a warning sign that this location isn’t good.
As I was perplexed at this seemingly perfect place, I looked to the next one South and noticed a surfer trying to enter the water. He paused and walked cautiously down some wet rocks and hopped into the water. Bingo! That’s what I’m doing!
I rolled to the next location, got my wet suit and gear on and followed this dude’s route. It worked perfectly. However, I did wait as the big set was finishing before I jumped in the water. This was both a good and a bad idea. It was a bad idea because there was 2-3 ft. of water and a few feet of spray hitting and pushing me as I stood on a rock full of coral and shells. However, it proved to be a good idea because after the set was finished, I had a clearer and easier path to paddle out.
This break was very different. In fact, I believe it is either a rock or coral break. It broke consistently in the same spots (and inconsistently in others). I don’t know if I can describe the breaking wave bowl that kept coming, but I wish I could. I can picture it in my mind and it was horseshoe-shaped, generally breaking both right and left, with some crumble and a spot toward the middle that broke the slowest. See, I told you I probably couldn’t describe it that well. Guess you had to be there.
Anyhow, I spent about 90 minutes catching waves here. It was awesome. I caught some super long rides and the waves stayed open plenty long, so I was able to cut around on them and spin. I did a really clean and quick 360 degree spin on one 5’+ wave and kept on riding after the spin. Sweet. Dude.
I wanted to stay out a little longer than I did, but this break was especially tiring. Why? Well, the rides were so long, if you actually took the wave for what it was worth (which I routinely did), you’d find yourself about 100 yards away from where you were (and where you needed to be for the next set). So, after each wave, I immediately paddled hard right back out.
Getting back in and up the rocks was a little tricky. At first, I thought I entered about 50 yards from where I actually did, so I had to paddle in very shallow water to the right spot. Fortunately, two surfers were exciting right ahead of me! I saw how they climbed out and it enabled me to do the same. Some dick sped in front of me and forced his way up ahead of me quickly, almost hitting me with his board. Not cool. I was actually a bit offended, but didn’t say anything to him.
The waves were over 6’ and the form was good. It was actually an epic session! So much so that I decided not to have a double session. Well, I also decided it was enough because I rolled back to the OB pier and it was the same size as before: not that impressive. I figured it would be awfully anti-climactic to finish at the pier.
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