Dolphins, Cold Water, High Tide and Green Grass...small surf...Ice Fishing

I surfed 11/11-11/17 (today).The tides have been really high in the morning and the swell not so big, so the result is not much surf. I drove by 17th street in the morning and didn't see Travis, so I made a u-turn and went up to the cliffs. The cliffs tend to break a little better than other breaks when the tide is rediculously high. It turned out that Travis was not too far behind me and saw me driving back to the cliffs. The water has been getting colder and Monday was dramatically so. Tuesday at the cliffs I saw dolphins surfing.



email to Travis 11/23/04



I hope you slept in today. I made the trek to 17th street and was greeted by a very high tide and crappy waves that were basically breaking on the sand. The air was cold and the water wasn’t much better, it is definitely time to get some booties. Since I hadn’t surfed since Saturday, the water in my trunk was really, really cold. I basically went three and out. Plus, there was no-one out there and it was really sharky.



12/1/04

Didn't surf 11/24 to 11/30. Was at Parents house for Thanksgiving. Back in the water today 12/1/04. When I went out to my car this morning it was covered in ice. The internet said the outside temperature was 39 degrees. I wore jeans and a T-shirt and flip flops. It was cold. I got to the cliffs to meet Travis and sat in my car for a few minutes to enjoy the heater. I changed into my wetsuit, grabbed by longboard and hoofed it down to the beach. By the time I got to the water, my feet were really really really cold. The water (59 degrees) was warm by comparison. I paddled out to meet Travis and was soon followed by what seemed like a hundred groms from the Marina High School surf team/class/whateveritis. I managed to keep my hair dry for a few waves, then finally went under. When my wet head hit the cold air, I was reminded what cold really was. The heat getting sucked out of my head felt like a vice clamping my ears together. Things numbed and were good for a while. I heard a splash behind me. Travis had gone underwater to warm up. Surf was small, weak and crowded due to the high schoolers. I caught one good wave, but flubbed the takeoff and ended up in the water. Finally the time came to go. I caught a weak wave to shore and emerged from the water. I ran most of the way back to my car to minimize the time my feet spent on the cold ground, but by the time I got there, by hands were numb and my feet felt like clubs. There was still ice on the grass by my car. I dumped my jug of warm water on my head and hurriedly got dressed before I froze again. Thankfully this is about as cold as it ever gets in So Cal and it won't stay this way for long.