First big winter swell, 1/7/12

Not the best depiction of 26th, but a nice left hander.

I decided to take my chances, and see what the surf was like today. The media has been blowing this swell out of proportions, scaring me a little to go in the water. I rode with some of the crew this morning, Khang, Dais, and DK. We headed out to 26th first but Klaude, who was already there, informed us it was big but really closed out. He was still feeling under the weather today, so came out to just see the waves. We got there and took a look. The waves didn't seem too bad at first...there were some shoulders and we saw a few good waves being caught. We waited some more, and in came those outside sets, making a thunder slapping boom. They were complete close outs that I would much rather not be caught in.

Dockweiler, LA Times, 1/6/12

After hanging out with Klaude, Bruce, and other locals and figuring out what to do, we decided to check out Dockweiler, because it looked pretty good on our way over, plus there was a nice picture of a guy on a wave there in the LA Times this morning, haha.

 We parked up on the highway, and the waves seemed a little more tame, and less consistent here. It didn't look great, but it didn't look terrible either. Our other option was to check out PV for the first time. I was eager to try it out, but it was a long distance away, it was brand new territory and according to our FB wave reporter, Josh, it wasn't supposed to get good until noon. So we opted to stay. We got in by the jetty near the little park east of the highway. This was my first time surfing at Dockweiler. The big difference here was the big jets flying overhead. They were so loud! Kinda ruins the whole peacefulness of the ocean, one of the great parts of surfing. Other than that, the waves were pretty closed out and powerful. I opted to stay in the white water. Even though I knew I could make it to the lineup, the waves didn't have much face to them and I knew I'd probably not catch any. Instead, I was able to ride the white water in, and even stood up on my fish board a few times. If I brought my long board down it would've been a lot easier to stand up, but I still had fun.  I think one of the funnest parts was I was in prime position to watch the rest of the guys catch (or try to catch) waves. The wipe out of the day goes to DK.

He had multiple fanstastic ouch factor wipeouts. The best was when he pulled out of a wave last minute, but a little too late. I saw his board get caught in the wave, and then he followed it, into the heart of the impact zone. Ouch...he got worked.  Khang and Dais caught a few quick waves, some about head high I'd say.

DK's friend Rodney was out with us too, though I didn't see him go for any waves. I think he used to surf and is now getting back into it.
I took a few breaks, sitting on the sand, soaking up the warm sun rays, enjoying this lovely January Saturday. Something I loved? watching those little sand piper birds with the teeny tiny legs, running back and forth on the sand trying to eat up little sandcrabs, or something. So cute :) Wish I had my camera for a close up of those birds.

The swell's peak was supposed to be yesterday, so maybe tomorrow will be a little more tame. Mahalo guys, peace!