UNMET EXPECTATIONS: TUE 1.04.2011 MORN

 UNMET EXPECTATIONS:  TUE 1.04.2011 MORN

CREW:  Randy
TIME:  1000 - 1230, 2 hrs..
WIND:  Offshore
WATER:  Going from high to low tide, inconsistent, unpredictable, needed cloud break to catch waves … odd.  Chest high on plus sets.

    After Monday’s phenomenal conditions at Porto, Randy and I deliberated on where to surf.  He did his homework and decided to head to Del Mar Jetty.  We timed our arrival to catch the tide going from high to low.  When we arrived there wasn’t one surfer out there.  The offshore winds were howling, and the high tide made the waves look mooshy.  We saw a plus sized set come through just under head high.  It was mooshy, but still fun with some nice shoulders.  We were pretty pumped.  It didn’t look like a gnarly day, and I was looking forward to working on some turns on the JSI board. 

    As soon as we got to the line up, everything changed for some reason.  There was a long wait for that big set to come.  Then, the peak that we paddled to didn’t produce anything.  We paddled back, forth, to, and from to try to sniff out the waves.  When they did come, they were too mooshy and broke late.  Randy told me that he figured it out, and that we had to catch the waves as soon as they were cloud breaking in order to get pushed into them.  The surf seemed to pick up again.  I got a small handful of rides, and I didn’t get the best out of them.  On at least two waves, the off shore winds sprayed my face full of water; I was popping up blind.  Those rides were wastes.  A couple other waves that I caught didn’t have much power behind them.  My best ride was a right that finally opened up for me.  I got to pump my board a couple times and did a top turn at the lip.  I was happy to get that one good ride to justify making the session worth it. 

    Meanwhile, my brother was able to paddle into waves that seemed too soft to paddle into.  He got some really long rides all the way to shore.  That was pure proof that it’s always more about the surfer than the conditions or equipment.  I was clearly at a low wave count because of my lack of experience.  I also watched my brother get barreled, backside, going right.  It looked cool because he got slotted at the top of the wave, grabbed rail, and put his arm in the wall to stall.  The wave ended up engulfing him, but it was still advanced surfing.

    Around the noon mark, things just died out.  My brother was extremely satisfied.  I didn’t want to complain about the session, but it was hard to compare it to the conditions at Porto.  We ended the session with AYCE sushi in Oceanside.