Well, hey there. It's been a while, hasn't it?
Honestly, there hasn't been much surfing happening. But last week my family and I got back down to Cayucos for one last hurrah before summer break ends and the school year starts up. For me, it was an opportunity to get in the water without any sort of internal pressure to "do" anything specific. We weren't renting a surfboard, I was going to embrace the bodyboard, and hopefully give my new fins some exercise!
Leading up to our trip, Surfline was forecasting anywhere from 1 to 3 feet, decent mornings, and less decent afternoons. And Cayucos Beach is very much a beach break. Not much in the way of open faces unless you want a sandwich or burger down at The Sea Shanty (or are willing to drive to Morro Bay and surf there).
Getting into the water without feeling like I have to prove myself has been wildly freeing! Just going in relaxed and focusing on honing my skill with my bodyboard has changed my mental state from "Oh, I'm just playing in the water with this" to "Okay, let's see if I can drive down the line a little" or "Can I position myself on the board so I can paddle or kick my way into position." And I can! But that's getting a little ahead of myself.
What Surfline couldn't tell me was that the sea floor at Cayucos Beach was insanely kelpy! I later learned from the owner of Good Clean Fun (where we rent my son a wetsuit whenever we're down there) is that the energy from a western Pacific typhoon as well as the more recent energy from Hurricane Genevieve off the coast of Mexico had preemptively broken loose much of the nearby kelp forest and trapped it more or less in the impact zone. So the act of getting outside (especially in fins) was super difficult! When you got outside and caught a wave in, odds were you'd end up in the middle of all that kelp with more waves coming.
Never before have I had to duck dive so many waves. And never before have I really felt the wave pass over me only to be followed by what felt like a freight train of energy pushing toward shore! It was wild! Most of the sets were probably in that three-foot range, but for every three sets of those, a fourth much larger set would march through. And those seemed to be easily five-feet high and very energetic. I'd be out there with my son (and typically his best friend and best friend's dad...their family had also booked a vacation at the same time as ours) and we'd see that larger set coming. It was either paddle past it or hope to ride one of them. That was mostly a 50/50 venture. More often than not, it'd result in one ride that would land us in the tangle of kelp (seriously all through my bodyboard leash as well as plastered to my wetsuit) and then it was a matter of dropping to the bottom, getting tumbled and rinsed, for however many waves remained in that big set before we could escape and get our bearings again.
While I didn't feel like conditions were dangerous, they definitely called for an increased alertness and awareness of your surroundings. I appreciate the efforts of the lifeguards on duty as well as the junior lifeguard program they have there. I also appreciate everyone who was in the water around us. Most of us had our heads on a swivel just making sure no one was truly in trouble. And in our crew, I think we all knew to listen to our bodies. When I started getting charlie horses from jumping through waves, I knew it was time to head in. Dealing with a serious leg cramp while also trying to hold onto your bodyboard and navigate the waves...that's not a safe time. If anyone got rinsed hard enough to get knocked against the seafloor, we'd head inside to assess things. No bravado, no peer pressure, no just shaking it off.
And, given the conditions for all four days we were in the water, we came away with a better realization of what kinds of conditions we can handle. Add that to some sweet rides with friends and family, and we can confidently say we had a fantastic vacation!