April 16, 2009
First Day of the Season
by  A. Coupla Lunatics

Spennie:

Windy? Yup!

Big F-ing swell? Yup!

Cold water & air? Yup! Did Spennie get cold? Nope!

Got my new ProMotion wetsuits Tuesday, and was on the water in the fullsuit 1 1/2 hours after it's arrival. After the usual agonizing over what size to use, went out on my new 5.6 Hucker and got spanked for 30-45 minutes or so. Because it was it's first rigging, the headstrap (and the whole sail) stretched a bit, erasing all the extra downhaul I had put on. It's like I have said before: It was like riding a motocross bike with the throttle stuck on full. Of course, rigging a 5.6 in 4.2 conditions may have exacerbated things a bit, too! The wesuit was totally bitchen, I wasn't cold at all.

Oh well, not that much actual fun, but nothing broken and no injuries, so not too bad a First Day of the Season.


Kevin:

Sound like the session I had today, but I thought I was going to die! The shore break was 5-6' --that should have been a clue. Guys were surfing at Carbrillo --that should have been a clue. The waves were breaking OVER the break wall --that should have been a clue, but had to give it a try so I rigged 5.6 and went for it. I couldn't stop hyperventilating when I got to the outside. The current was really strong and after a while I found myself getting close to the jetty so I started to head back to the beach. The swell on the outside was really big, and I had to wait until I was at the bottom of the trough before I could water start or risk getting launched. I caught a nice swell to get back to the beach, but when I got close to shore I saw that it was a set wave and I was going out of control fast. When I got to the bottom of the wave I got launched so bad I broke the in haul at the boom head and my harness was around my ankles! Oh yeah, did I mention I was in the impact zone? After washing up on shore I had to walk back to the launch in 30+mph wind. It took me 35 mins. Boy I'm glad my First Day of the Season is over...

K2
No Clue