1 26 16 morning call

Yesterday was a very happy day: I felt like I finally have 100% of my freedom back. I have to use my weird rib-bra, but I can surf.

Much more of that later, let me open the call with a photo by Jimmie Hepp who caught Francisco Porcella with one of his Jaws boards practicing at Lanes before it got out of control and ugly.


Having the possibility to surf, I can plan my sessions again without restrictions. Yesterday's plan turned out to be pretty good. This is the first spot I surfed. This swell started super clean, but around mid morning the northerly wind picked up and in the afternoon mixed periods/directions started to arrive on top of the long period forerunners and ruined it. At least on the north shore. I've seen picture of the west side bombing at sunset.


This is the second spot I surfed.


The weird thing inside my wetsuit is this weird thing below. In those holes, my lowest ribs can "float" without touching the board while I paddle. Which is the reasons why I needed a custom solution instead of a rib protection inflatable jacket or similar.
My cartilage has healed a lot since Nov. 5th, but it's mostly scar tissue that built around the lesion and it feels like a ding fixed with the ding stick instead of a proper fix. It will keep building for another year I've been told, and at the moment I don't feel like putting it a risk by loading it with my weight.

Here's the layers I have to wear: a lycra and a neoprene tank top to avoid rashes, the thing, the wetsuit.
Thanks to the ribs' bays (my left ribs stick out a lot), the thing is pretty well anchored and it doesn't move much inside the wetsuit.
But it's foam, so when it's time to put the head down and paddle like there's no tomorrow, it squeezes a bit and I'm a little wobbly while I paddle. I'm getting used though.

And I'm very happy. I'm just happy to be out there, I don't even care if I catch a wave or not.
That's a good thing, because my surfing is so rusty that there's not much to be happy about it instead!


This instead is a video I posted on this blog January 26 2011. The archive is one of my favorite features of this blogging platform, since all the stuff I posted in the last 10 years is there and can be accessed any time. Like a permanent online diary.


The graphs of the three buoys all show a double hump, but the Pauwela's second hump is still going up! That can be due to the fact that the biggest part of the swell is missing us to the NE, which seems to be confirmed also by higher numbers at the N buoy.
At 3am Pauwela reads 13.6ft @ 14s from 325° (NW), no wonder the west side was firing.
Notice also how the NW buoy went back to a WNW direction around noon yesterday.




Wind map shows the big NW fetch responsible for Wednesday's swell and a new WNW one coming off Japan.


MC2km map at noon shows a lovely southerly flow.