It was a chilly morning today, 4°C. I got to the beach right before sunrise, which was super pretty, but again, also really chilly. Instead of doing the full wetsuit change in the cold, I put it half on before driving out, so it wasn’t too bad.
The water was OK, actually. I had the hood, my ear-saver! Without a hood it would be impossible. The ears must be so freezing. There were a few people in the water without one, not sure how they do it.
So, the conditions: pretty good! Leftover swell from Josephine, the system that was going up the Atlantic this week. Consistent thigh-high sets rolling through. Almost no wind, a little offshore and cross-shore maybe.
The weird part was the tide timing. Low was at 4am, so I was in the water 3h after that. Not ideal, but could be worse, like getting there exactly at high tide. Timing-wise I had no other option today, unfortunately.
Got a few nice ones though. Real strong, energetic waves, nice and steep to get you going. Could try “kick turns”, not sure if you call them kick turns on a surfboard: trimming down the line, then stepping on the tail, lifting the nose and pointing the board down the wave to get some more speed, or better, not completely die on the wave, and then carve a long turn to get into a trim line again.
It took a lot of patience today. Many waves looked really good in the lineup, but then died out quickly. Definitely getting better at wave reading. I think that’s my major progression this year.
Glad I went out, gorgeous morning!
