I have found that, now that I take my kayak with me to the beach, I spend enormous chunks of my vacation obsessing over whether or not there are any waves to surf. I watch to see if they are breaking at the outer sandbar and, if so, are they consistent enough. Are they big enough? Are they curling or munching out? Are they nice and wide enough for some horizontal surfing? Are they breaking to the right or to the left? Which side of the pier looks the best? At what spot are they breaking? And most importantly, I am always thinking "is there anything out there worth riding?"
Now that I've been at this for a few years, I've learned how fickle the ocean can be and I keep waiting for a day like I had in 2009 next to Oceana Pier. On our 1st day out on the beach, I knew the waves were really, really good. Surfers were killing it in at least three different sections. But the beach gear needed to be setup, there was sunscreen to apply and waves to jump with the kids and by the time all that was done, the waves were gone. I waited and waited and finally saw some stuff setting back up, so I put on the skirt and the pfd and just as I was ready to launch, one of the kids said they needed to go back to the trailer. Later that evening, I gave it another attempt, even though the waves were much smaller. I was just getting started when another issue with the kids brought me back in. On day two, I awoke to see hoards of surfboards being carried out to the pier. I thought "Man, the waves must be perfect!" I grabbed the boat and headed out, only to find that it was a club, all non-locals, and there were no waves at all. I sat on the beach all day watching them try to ride what just wasn't there. But then that night, after dinner, while walking with the boys on the beach, I noticed some pretty sweet stuff breaking way out far. I started to get the itch to go get my boat. And about that time, the boarders started showing up. Two, then four, then eight. Amy came out to join us, which gave me the chance to go grab my boat. Putt-putt would have to wait just a few more minutes. The waves on the left of the pier were awesome, maybe the nicest I've seen, with everything breaking to the right. By now enough surfers were riding those waves though that I thought I would see what I could get on the right side of the pier. I rode one fun wave, getting a little bit of a carve back into it, then paddled back out. Things were stacked super close and I paddled through thirty waves just to get out past the break. Amy and the boys were headed to the pier to watch from there and wanted me to wait. It seemed like an endless supply of beautiful big waves formed right where I was at. Once I saw Amy on the pier, I started looking for one to catch. And for some reason, I kept picking waves that barely amounted to anything. I would turn back around and watch three beauties break behind me. So it wasn't that the waves were not there, it was just that I was doing a crappy job of seeing them ahead of time. I repeated this enough times, that I finally just rode the small ones back in. I had fun, but didn't get that one huge ride that I was looking for. Paddling out through all that stuff was an adventure though and is starting to get fun in its own way. Day three was just crazy with big choppy waves stacked way too close and breaking in no pattern whatsoever. I only saw a few guys try to go out on their boards and didn't see anyone ride anything. But after having my shot at it the night before, I was content to just relax and play with the family.
