SUP – Long Beach (2018 April 21) Random, gentle giants at LB. Bigger than it looked from the beach. Fairly easy to get out up at Tinnies, but tougher south of Incinerator Rock. Wind and roll too. You had to muster up courage and hook-up with the bombs to get something steep enough to ride. Clean and gentle on the outside, lots of whitewater on the inside. Only a handful of rides for me. Others caught more. BWD/DavidM/pink panther/myself mixed reviews, but Udder was all smiles! Tsawwassen would have enjoyed this session. Two pro short board surfers showed up and had the place to themselves for the evening glass off. Dinner at the Float House.
Gallery (better for mobile devices)
SildeshowSUP – Long Beach (2018 April 22 - morning)Wildlife. Returned to Long Beach after surf checks at Flo and Wick. Slightly smaller, easier to catch and more fun (but missed the slightly-frightening-sized bombs from yesterday). Caught sight of ‘something big passing below, that looked like a shark’ (tail shaped like a “V”) – turned out to be a seal, later in the day there was a sea lion and flock of birds migrating north. There was breeze again, but it was flatter (less roll). Caught one long open right that had me wondering if it was going to be my ‘Green Point moment’. The inside sandbar made getting out nasty at times.
Gallery (better for mobile devices)
SildeshowSUP – Long Beach (2018 April 22 - afternoon)Glass off? The breeze hung around almost until dark – no glass off today. It looked like there was a lot of white water but it seemed to settle and clean up just after we took to the water. Third session with similar, but slightly smaller waves. Ryan and Lise both said they had frustrating SUP sessions, but others had fun (BWD, Udder and myself). The inside sandbar was mean spirited again. BWD rode a wave with a second life all the way into the sand and Udder came close to loosing his paddle in a foot of water. Udder pressed his new portable hot shower into action and it seemed like that was the best part of his day. Dinner at Growlers. Company in the ‘long spur’ (had to park off to the side). I accidently set off the van’s alarm – not too neighbourly.
Gallery (better for mobile devices)
SildeshowSUP – Cox Bay (2018 April 24)Laundry day. Cooked French Toast for the crew at the morning look-see at Wick (glassy, but not much on offer in the cove or middle and those with size further down looked hard to catch). Then stopped for a look-see at Long Beach (small) on the way to Cox Bay. First day in my summer suit (5/4 sans hood). First paddle out was easy then the inside sand bar turned mean here too on the dropping tide (2 m to 1.3 m). Mixed bag of swell size, some hard to catch fat waves, some overhead, some fun times, and some energy sucking battles to paddle back out (if you kicked out too late or timed it wrong). Nice to mix it up a little and get a session in at Cox. Got to try out Jake’s advice (looker’s left of the Maltby path for surfer’s lefts) – it seemed to work today.
Gallery (better for mobile devices)
Sildeshow