4/22 — Grey Whale Cove and Pacifica
My friend and I stopped by Rockaway on the way down, the air was calm today and the water was smooth. I meant to wake up early and catch high tide before it hit, but it has been a long week with some late nights. This morning 7, 8, 9, and then 10 am passed in complete unconsciousness. Rockaway wasn’t speaking to me, so we kept driving.
The forest south of Pacifica flew by, the air was damp, the clouds were grey, the air was hinted with pine. Large eucalyptus trees stood still. We hiked down to Gray Whale Cove. The sand at Gray Whale Cove was coarse and heavy. I got in on the south side and road the current out to where 3 other surfers where.
The smooth water lifted up, and I dropped left on a shoulder-high wall of blue. It was a quick ride and I caved back to the white water as the wave died out. A heavy shore-ward current was flowing over the middle sand bar. I paddled out and caught another slightly longer right. The water changed moods, it seemed, and I got caught by an outside set and sent over the sand bar. I gave up on trying to paddle around it and rode whitewater back in. We sat on the beach for a bit, I played with the sand, and then drove up to Linda Mar.
The waves at Linda Mar were small, but the water was calm. I had two waist-high lefts in a lineup full of european people speaking a language I didn’t understand.
I haven’t been able to surf for a 2 weeks, which felt like eternity. It felt good to be back in the water, watching waves lift up, drop, and march in a frothy white line toward shore. It was nice to feel the cold on my head when I first get in, the feeling of getting tossed in whitewater, and dropping down the face of a rising hill of water, arcing left, and leaning down the line.
