From: airey@woof.asd.sgi.com (John Airey)
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: ho ho ho (There was surf in big sur)
Date: 28 Dec 1992 18:06:03 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: woof.asd.sgi.com


In article <1hga90INNcun@overload.lbl.gov>, njtravis@ux5.lbl.gov writes:
> [..nancy's tragic tale deleted..]
> My tail patch was too wet and temporary to surf anyway. Bah humbug!
> 
> Now my freshly modified Christmas-Custom Stewart HydroHull is drying in
> front of the fireplace. It used to be a square tail but since the
> corners were smashed its now a radical rounded square tail (soon to
> be a pintail if my luck keeps up!). 
> 
> The swell is probably still on its way.
> I have 10 more days off work and Santa owes me!

   Nancy, I think it was too north to hit the eastside.

   I can say that because I surfed christmas day in close to double
   overhead offshore wind beachbreak.

   I'm kind of proud of it because it was the north facing beach
   of Point Sur, which any other day of the year you probably
   would have been tossed out for trespassing, and would usually
   be blown out from the predominant northwest wind anyway.

   But the big storm up north sent swell down (which went right
   by S.C.), and the wind swung in from the south, 
   and it was christmas day so no patrollers and we lucked out.

   There was a giant peak about .4 of the way from the lighthouse
   to the headland. It was breaking from top to bottom with 30 feet
   of spray blowing off the top. You could have fitted a car in
   the tube going left. There was a carsized rock in the shorebreak
   dead in the middle of the peak. 

   I didn't ride that peak. Just too wimpy; I'm not used to something
   that big *and* hollow where you need to be able to go either way. 
   It looked like the lane on a big day.
   I rode the next peak towards the headland going right towards 
   the huge peak. That was thrilling enough believe me.
   There were some big lefts I could have taken, and my brother
   in law did take them. But after learning on a right point,
   I don't have much of a backhand and it wasn't a good time
   to practice.

   The water was clear as a bell; you could see the sandy bottom. 
   I wore no booties, so it can't have been too cold.

   The only bad thing was getting out, which took some work.

   I later talked to a local who had moved up from Santa Barbara. 
   He surfs Big Sur a lot, including all the
   "secret" Big Sur spots that you have to have eight generations of
   local family to be allowed to surf and he was pretty jealous, since that
   was probably the best spot over the Holidays.

   It even looked good on Sunday when I was driving back.

   I also surfed Pfeifer beach, but it wasn't very good. The only
   good thing was that I got to practice going left.

   On the Sunday coming back, I also looked in at Moss Beach.
   The peaks were maybe chest to head, but there was no wind and it looked
   fun. A few guys were out. So nancy, that's were you should have gone!

   If there is a very north swell, say more than 300 degreea, 
   and a south wind which is what you get if the storm is actually going
   to come over us, the eastside won't work.

   I would guess that O.B. would have been okay christmas day also.

> 
> Nancy
                
john m. airey      airey@asd.sgi.com  (415) 390-5248
                   M/S 7U-550 Silicon Graphics, Advanced Graphics Division
                   2011 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mtn. View, CA 94039  
Newsgroups: alt.surfing