December Surf

Wintertime is in full effect in Northern CA and our beach is doing it's thang!!! A great weekend of shooting photos, bodyboarding, family time and some Holiday shopping wedged in between. Fall/Winter is truly my favorite time of year here in Northern CA.

I recently made a comment to a couple of buddies of mine that there is a dearth of guys out on boards that do not seem to know how to surf very well (ie: "bouys"). I can't count how many times I have seen perfect head high peaks roll in with guys perfectly positioned to paddle and drop into them and then pull back suddenly and not take the drop. Obviously a lot of beginners out which is usually not the case for our beach break.

Regardless, still fun out there and have been scoring some fun waves!

Sessions No 3 & No 4

Safe to say most of the surf community around these parts would agree this has been a pretty dismal Fall surf season. The surf and good surf conditions really have not been in alignment and shown up with much gusto until this past weekend. So it hasn't been since August that I have been out with my waterhousing to snap some water shots. Felt good to get out. The pic above was from a session of overhead + surf the biggest I've been out in so far - a bit sketchy at times. The pic below was from a session up in the far reaches of Northern California.

Session No 2

Traveled down the coast last weekend to a break that has been good of late. Got down there and was welcomed by semi-overcast sky. My buddy I went down with knows his way around cameras and encouraged me to shift to B/W mode. While I like the feel of the shots I took, unfortunately there were not a lot of really good pics snapped. Below are just a few "interesting" shots. The tide was really high this day and caused the waves to break on the mushier side. And of course, by the time we had to leave (had to be back home on time) the tide started to drop and the waves were getting better and better. We left with our buddy from SC telling us, "another hour or two and this place will be firing!".

Just good to get out.

Shark Attack, Baker Beach, San Francisco

OK... so I'll propagate this one. By "this one" I mean that every word typed beyond this point should be considered hearsay rumor. 

So a friend of mine and I are driving down to the Santa Cruz area to go surf and take some photos this past weekend. He asks me, "So did you hear about Baker Beach?". This being a very broad question, I replied, "What about Baker?". I'm expecting him to tell me that the Bodysurfing had been unreal recently or that another tourist got pulled into the surf and had to be rescued or worse recovered by the Coast Guard. He responds by telling me that some beach walker with his or her dog were having a nice day recently. The beach walker throws a ball or stick out into the surf and "little buddy" goes running out to fetch it. Well no sooner than he gets to the ball or stick then, WHAM!!! A great white shark nails "little buddy" from below and takes him under. Supposedly a 911 call was placed during the incident.

Wow.

I'll let you decide what to make of it. I've felt relatively safe bodyboarding and bodysurfing Baker Beach a handful of times. I'll look into this some more and see if it is legit. Did you hear anything about this? If so drop me a line/comment.

First Pics of the Season

Had an opportunity to visit a friend down in Santa Cruz yesterday and spend the night. Had a great time connecting with these fellas, it has been awhile. Good conversation, good beverages all topped off with a great BBQ. Woke up this morning and found some surf and was able to take my first water shots of the season. Felt good to get in the water and snap a couple. Had to get back home so could not stay long unfortunately. Paid the price for not stretching out prior and my back is STIFF.

No spectacular shots with the one below being the best. Just good to get out.

I'm hoping this will be a good season for me out in the water with the camera. I feel like I have the basics down, now I just need good waves and surfers/bodyboarders to shoot.