And the swell has faded...

Summary
Pretty weak. Pretty small. Pretty inconsistent. Pretty damn low tide. All making for an unquestionably imperfect (but always fun) surf.
Waves
Small, weak, poor shape. Biggest set was waist high. Enough time for one turn, maybe. Generally short rides given the amazingly low low tide.
Crowds
Not, but yes. Contradictory but not. For any surf break it would be considered, but for Surfrider not at all.
Weather
Cloudy. Slight offshore but (sprint suit) certainly not warm.
Forecast
Looks completely not promising whatsoever. Mid next week perhaps, but other than that really not so much. Regardless rather weak.
Eventful Stuff
I saw some friends. Other than that pretty much as uneventful as possible. I wore the new spring suit and when I got out of the water my knee was bleeding. Not the end of the world.
Wave of the Day
Laugh. There was actually one that I was very surprised at. One of the few three foot drops. I turned it into a side drop since the tide was so low the waves were super fast (and not hollow.) This wave was fast and hollow. Straight drop into a I-am-trying-to-cover-you-up barrel. That lasted maybe two...two and a half seconds, then closed out. By far the most fun in that it was surprising.
Beyond that I had a few waves where there was a bottom turn and pseudo-slow cutback. That's pretty much it though.



Summary:
Surfrider, Malibu
5'10" Southpoint
7:00-9:00
1-2ft w/ 3ft sets
1+/5

Mmm delicious

Summary
And I'm not talking no breakfast burritos... The swell picked up significant consistency and noticeable size today. The winds didn't cooperate so well, but all in all it was a pretty fun-packed surf session.
Waves
Good size at both breaks. To the point that sets were actually worthwhile fun. Shoulders galore. Surprisingly Westwards was a little more forgiving than most days---not quite as hollow as usual, but plenty of manuvering room. Latigo was...fun as always. Only two paddle boarders out, and I can compete with Longboarders, so I had some absolutely spectacular long, fun, turn filled rides today.
Crowds
Westwards was crowded. Most were a bit farther West than me. I sat pretty far outside and limited my waves to the bombs.
Weather
Overcast and breezy (onshore) at Westwards. I left because it was a tad too crumbly courtesy of the wind.
Sunny and slightly offshore at Latigo. Beautiful open faces, clean as can be. Thank you kelp.
Forecast
Looks good tomorrow. Looks mediocre after that. We'll see.
Eventful Stuff
The guard at Latigo kicked me out. Told me to go back. So I went down to the beach and walked around.
Wave of the Day
Latigo always has minute long spectacular rides, so I'm not even going to bother detailing one of those. It would take far too long and I'm tired.
Westwards had one wave that stands out above all others. A (surprise surprise) left. I was sitting rather far outside, a bomb(ish) 5ft wave comes. Perfect spot, everyone else too far inside. I turn around and start to paddle. I turn around and see the shoulder lining up perfectly. I make the drop, but it's a little later than I thought it was, so I kick the tail with my right foot, and get shacked for a heck of a long time. It opens up for a second and I look and see a dad and his kid (on boards) and another guy about 25 feet apart. I think to myself, "I can make this inbetween them." I do. The look on that kids face was of absolute glee and excitement...as well as a little fear that I was going to mess up and whack him with my board.
I felt like a baller. My surf session was then complete.


Summary:
Westwards, Malibu
6'1" Al Merrick MX
7:30-9:00
3-4ft, 6ft bomb sets
3/5

Latigo Point, Malibu
5'10" Southpoint
9:30-11:00
3-4ft, some bigger sets but they had poor shape
3+/5

What a relief....some uncrowded waves

Summary

Waves

Crowds

Weather

Forecast

Eventful Stuff

Wave of the Day



Summary:
Westwards, Malibu
6'1" Al Merrick MX
7:00-9:00
3ft with + sets, groundswell
2/5

Latigo Point, Malibu
5'10" Southpoint Fish
10:30-1:00
3-4ft, probably some bigger sets
3+/5

Now I remember why long weekends are troublesome for surfing...

Summary
A little afternoon fun. Inconsistent, small, and pretty much exactly what I was expecting. Oh how I can't wait until Mexico...
Waves
Small. Most all under waist high. There were a few "bomb" sets, some surprising chest high rides, but given the amazingly high tide they didn't stand too far above the rest of the mediocre rides. Short.
Crowds
Not crowded, but certainly busy. Thank you school-out-early-for-long-weekend. Everyone out there, literally every single person, was younger than me.
Weather
Where'd the sun go? It disappeared and it is cold, overcast, and a little breezy.
Forecast
Looks good for the weekend. Beyond that we shall see.
Eventful Stuff
Went out with Kaileen and Grant. They hung out on the beach.
Wave of the Day
A left. One of those "bomb" left sets. Pretty simple, steep drop, wave actually holds all the way to the inside. C'est tout.


Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
5'10" Southpoint
5:30-6:45
2-3ft, some + sets
2-/5

Ventura Shaping Expo

Summary
Truly interesting convention, fun (though mediocre) surf.
Waves
Small, but I chose the right board so I had fun. A little choppy because of the wind, but really not bad. I had rather low expectations and they were met.
Crowds
Not. There were others out but by no means did it qualify as crowded.
Weather
Overcast. Breezy.
Forecast
Not. Looks completely flat for the next week.
Eventful Stuff
There was the shaping convention here at the fairgrounds. Eric and I went and checked it out for a few hours. Pretty amazing the stuff they do with surfboards now. Dual stringers, extra strong cores, undingable, hollow, bamboo, rice paper, all sorts of crazy foams, construction, and glassing techniques.
Wave of the Day
I messed around on Eric's board for a few waves. Steep drop, spring up, cutback, down the face, straightshot. By most means mediocre, but given the limited size of today's waves, it was a nice surprise.


Summary:
California Street Ventura County
7'6" Al Merrick M13
12:15-2:00
2-3ft
2-/5
Eric

Surprisingly fun

Summary
Patagonia Wetsuit...brand new. Way too hot for this water. I need a spring suit now, seriously.
Waves
Pretty decent in most respects. I have faith in windswell. It has the potential to be really really good. Today showed that potential, not in its full greatness but certainly a glimpse. For the most part the waves were a little soft, but certainly workable around the center/bottom. Do anything too much on the top of the wave and you'll get kicked off the wave because you lose too much power.
Crowds
Given the surprisingly fun quality of these waves, there were very few people out. At the peak just over ten, but effectively no crowds as there was plenty of space for everyone to have their own windswell peak.
Weather
Clean, clear, crisp. Beautiful morning, light offshores early on, no clouds in sight. Very warm and undoubtedly a spectacular start to an amazing day.
Forecast
Looks mediocre. Windswell through the weekend, and really nothing much of anything next week until the weekend. Hopefully some waist/chest high stuff after that, we'll see.
Eventful Stuff
There was a dead sea lion on the beach. Not killed by a shark as far as I could tell, its head was still there. Probably just died of old age or sickness (caused by Malibu's crappy water...)
Wave of the Day
I would probably say this was one of my lefts. There were lots of them for no particular reason. Good steep drops, bottom turn/little cutback/wrap around / straightshot. There were others but given the limited power of the waves, I feel like that was one of the top ones.


Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
5'10" Southpoint
7:00-9:00AM
2-4ft windswell
2+/5

A little paddling never hurt anyone

Summary
Although it does makes arms burn a little. Overall a pretty fun morning of surf. Decent size, decent power, some decent rides. Long paddles back out, but I would argue worth it.
Waves
Decent size, shoulder-head+. The tides were pretty low so the inside of the beach break was long with mushy poor shape. Farther outside the swell hit the sandbars pretty decently and there were some nice good size shoulders. Mostly lefts.
Crowds
Not. There were a handful of longboarders surfing the long left farther South. My rides were more fun =)
Weather
Crisp, clear, beautiful. Low fog out at sea, but no a perfect morning with light offshores other than that.
Forecast
Looks poor. Windswell. Wind. No rain, but lots and lots of wind.
Eventful Stuff
Other than lots and lots of paddling, nothing.
Wave of the Day
One of the lefts. There were a few decent overhead walls, a few surprising coverups (too slow to be barreling) and some nice turns. Quite a few fun ones for sure. Not sharp turns, but the fish was kind to me in my selection today for sure.


Summary:
Dillon Beach, Marin County
5'10" Southpoint
7:00-9:00AM
5-7ft windswell/groundswell mix
3/5

A little raw...but pretty fun

Summary
And quite a lot of work, but there was some fun shrouded beneath the fog. Good sized, pretty (too) consistent, rather workable closeouts.
Waves
Head high plus, imperfect shape, short period, lots of paddling, lots of closeouts. Windswell of this size, with these tides, has the real possibility to be painful.
Crowds
There were a few others out. Most hard to see because of the rather dense fog. Most rather pleasant.
Weather
Foggy. Cold. Light onshore.
Forecast
Decent for tomorrow, mediocre past then.
Eventful Stuff
Really nothing particularly eventful. A heck of a paddle to get out. The initial paddle took 15 minutes just to get 150 feet. Every wave washes you back to shore.
Wave of the Day
Most all were lefts. The only right I got was head high nice little shack, some guy pops up right in my line so I bail, end about three feet before him, he splashes water at me. What an a. I was a little ticked, but I understand his perspective too. It's never fun to have boards get near you. That said, today is a b if you're caught inside, so I understand not wanting to paddle to the wave.

Summary:
Carmel Beach, Monterey
6'1" Al Merrick MX
5:30PM-7:00PM
6-8ft windswell/groundswell mix
2+/5

Summary
Quite a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Windswell for sure, but surprisingly fun windswell.
Waves
It's a little fat, but overall it's pretty fun. Rights and lefts, super peaky. Basically the fish was the perfect choice.
Crowds
Not. There were two out when I went out, and two more came out over the next hour.
Weather
Overcast. Chilly. Cold windswell water.
Forecast
Looks pretty decent for Socal. Looks pretty decent for Norcal.
Eventful Stuff
Pre-work surf session. Not bad. Two hours of surf. Eight hours of work. Hard life.
Wave of the Day
I remember distinctly this wave---right, decent size for the day (~4 1/2ft). Steep drop, straightshot down, little pump/popup to the top of the wave, cutback, falling back down the face, two little straight fish pumps, mid-wave bottom turn, pop up right into the opposite curl for a nice little foot or two of air. Didn't land it, but it's a giantass fish so I had no expectation of. There were a couple more like that. Definately potential in these waves. Definately potential.

Summary:
County Line
5'10" Southpoint
7:15-9:15
3-4ft 4+sets, windswell
2+/5

First summer session...

Summary
Not a bad session by any means, but certainly not spectacular. We will see conditions improve on the whole through the week and into next weekend sooo life is good.
Waves
Truly mixed up. Some very decent windswell lines mixed in with some truly crappy ones. I had three or four pretty fun waves, mixed lefts and rights. Definately worth it, though inconsistent and a bit frustrating on the whole.
Crowds
Not. There were a handful out, but mabye 50-60 scattered throughout the whole of the Zuma beachbreak. Westwards looked to have about ten out too.
Weather
Low clouds, foggy through the canyon, a bit of a SW early morning breeze.
Forecast
Mediocre to decent. I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, but there is some real potential. There WILL be swell next weekend down here in Socal, but I'm 100% for sure going north. Same swell, decent conditions, bigger waves. Oh, and Mother's Day too. That's why. It looks like I'll hit some 6-8ft clean conditions for Wednesday's at-home morning session. The rest of the week looks far more mediocre...
Eventful Stuff
Well I went to a graduation party at Glen Campbell's house last night. Ridiculous. Today, not so exciting. It is summer vacation (a.k.a. living through the canyon, working in Malibu) so life is good.
Wave of the Day
I searched for a little shack the whole morning. I finally found one, and it was tiers above what I thought it was going to be. A nice little ~4ft drop, a few little straight pumps to stay in the sweet spot, bottom turn right into a nice little two second barrel.

Summary:
Zuma, Malibu
5'10" Southpoint
7:00-9:00
2-3ft with a few 4ft sets, windswell
2/5