Thoughts on sideways sports: surf/skate/snow

On a break.

venicesurfergirl — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:20:32 +0000

Taking a break from blogging for awhile. Just not feeling it. I’m sure inspiration will once again arise, but until then, I refer you to some great reads on my blogroll….

I got game.

venicesurfergirl — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:11:32 +0000

I surfed (waves were small and the water was cold, but the sun was out). I snowboarded (heavy duty powder). I went to the Chargers-Broncos game (watched my beloved Chargers whomp on the Broncos. Culter is a punk. LT is da man). What a week it was.

Nada.

venicesurfergirl — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:03:10 +0000

I got nothing. Didn’t paddle out. Didn’t even look. Heard it was flat. It was cold. Not motivated. Rain. eh….

What a week.

venicesurfergirl — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:49:20 +0000

What a week. What a week. What a week. Work has been insanely busy. INSANE. I suppose that is a good thing in this economy. But with work and the various holiday obligations, surfing has not been on the radar. That, and it has been raining most of the week. That, and there is no surf. Not sure if I’ll even try to surf this weekend. At this point, I feel ambivalant about it because it is so cold and the surf is so small. Will make it a game-time decision. But….there is lots of fresh power in the mountains now, so snowboarding is very much on my mind and I may attempt a trip to get some turns in sooner rather than later. We’ll see.

The Storm.

venicesurfergirl — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:00:08 +0000

With forecasters predicting that the first major winter storm was going to hit on Saturday, I had no real expectations of surfing this weekend. I woke up on Saturday to overcast, drizzly skies and wind, so didn’t even bother to head down to the beach for a surf check. It was a sleep-in, late breakfast kind of morning anyhow, so I knew I wasn’t going to be surfing. Saturday night I went to bed thinking that “the storm” was going to be hitting by morning, so again, had no expectations of getting up to surf. But when I woke up on Sunday morning and saw sunny skies with no wind, I thought maybe it was worth a look-see. I had no true expectations of paddling out, but decided to go down to the beach for a surf check anyhow. I went straight out front, and when I got to the beach, well, it was good. The waves were in the waist to chest high zone with sets up to about head high, and shape was good. It was very slow and mushy on the high tide which made catching the waves quite challenging, but once you were in one, they had some fun shoulders to work with. I didn’t get a ton of waves, but enough to call the session decent. I’m just really glad that I managed to get a session in after all because now “the storm” is truly here and I seriously doubt there will be any surfing this week.

Just so tired.

venicesurfergirl — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:55:21 +0000

Two mornings in a row I have set my alarm clock for 6 am with the intentions of getting up to surf before work. Two mornings in a row I have rolled over and gone back to sleep. While the desire to get up early to surf before work is strong, the will power to execute is not. Nerds 1 and 2 have probably forsaken me now as go-to surf buddy. Oh the shame of it all.

It sucks being a Weekend Warrior.

venicesurfergirl — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:11:25 +0000

Surfing this past weekend was pretty much a bust. The NW swell that was promised never really materialized in any significant way, so rather than go to the semi-secret spot I was thinking about, I ended up paddling out at El Porto on Saturday. First, it was super crowded. I mean, really crowded. And the surf just wasn’t very good. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t very good. Second, there were fierce rip currents everywhere sucking you way out past the line up towards Catalina. You had to paddle constantly toward shore just to try to stay in position to catch a wave. Annoying. So I spent the entire session trying to paddle away from the crowds and out of the rip currents, caught two meager waves and called it. Not satisfying at all.

Ok, so I figured I still had Sunday to count on. Hopefully it would be better. Got up to a slight drizzle but was not deterred from heading down to the beach. Went to do surf check right out front and even before I could see the water, I saw about 15 guys huddled on the boardwalk just looking. No one was suiting up to paddle out. Not good. The winds were onshore and waves were chunky, textured, small, dumpy, crapsauce. No go.

So that was my surf for the weekend. Awesome.

Musing from a Weekend Warrior.

venicesurfergirl — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:56:55 +0000

Plotting my paddle out plan for tomorrow. There is some NW swell and a lowish tide in the morning, so the beach breaks (at least in Venice) will likely be totally closed out. I’m thinking about heading to a spot that I haven’t surfed in about two years, but that handles NW swells well and isn’t on everyone’s radar. While not a secret spot by any means, it doesn’t usually draw a big crowd. I bet you wish I was going to tell you where this is, but I’m not. We’ll see…

Paddle Face Arrives.

venicesurfergirl — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:54:11 +0000

Someone near and dear to me, the 3rd nerd, has finally launched his own blog after a long awaited arrival. I introduce to you the new emerging talent in the blogosphere, Paddle Face!

Gloomy days of winter, part 2.

venicesurfergirl — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:33:38 +0000

Another dreary, gloomy day. Surf this morning looked total crapsauce at the pier. Not at all interested in surfing Venice this week. But….I think I’ve found my next surf travel destination.

Nicaragua! Hello!

Some guys I know just came back and sent me their pictures to drool over.

You prefer a right or a left?

They surfed this peak by themselves (four guys) for several days. Argh. So not fair.