sweet little double session day today. tiny waves but plenty of them. super glassy in the morning and some light bump in the afternoon. could almost.get out to the line-up by just walking! dolphins and sea lions to boot.
typical report from the hardcore surfers that use this website. Good surf? this site is just a chat room for 3-6 lonely transplants.
Markler...you get one guess as to how you could fix that...it's a very simple equation.
I'm happy you're stoked. I often have a great session even when the waves are small and junky. But you can talk about how you had a good session while still somewhat objectively rating the waves. Example:
"SF-OB: Poor-Fair. Still had fun though! Small and glassy. Lots of non-lethal sea life."
I think futuresparky meant that for every finger marklr points, there are 3-6 pointing back.
@Senor-O. Great point. I see and agree with your reasoning. However, I rate my session on my subjective experience. If I catch a million little waves with sunny skies, warm water, and no traffic problems then I call it a "good" session.
If the waves are double-overhead and peeling in both directions but the shorebreak snaps my board in half and I have to swim for 30 minutes, I call it a "fair-" session. Make sense?
I'm not posting these in order to entice or discourage anyone else to come to or stay away from the surf. Purely reporting on my own personal experience. Happy enough to let anyone disagree with me.
Exactly. Reports are supposed to be subjective. Don't let the a-holes discourage you. They could always post their own counter-reports rather than hating on yours. Keep up the stoke.
@Markler, that you manage to work the word "transplant" into the narrative so often, leads me to think of you as the "birther" of this website. What's next, will you be requesting to see everyone's birth certificate? Time to let it go...or you go..try the ripper, shredder, locals-only site. Maybe you'll be happier there, but I kind of doubt it. Have a great day anyway.
Negative attitude or not, Marklar brings up a recurring point: are these reports about actual wave quality or personal stoke? I'd say more often than not it's the latter. Like, last night I took out a super fat old twin fin I bought at a garage sale. I had fun because the board is stupid and silly and it was fun to try something different, plus it was sunny. But in actuality the waves were total shit, and I sure wished I had something to use my normal 5'11" shortboard on.
So, in my experience, you can't use this site for an actual surf report. For me, it's a combination of looking at buoys, cameras, and then reading comments on this site to see if it's actually as decent as it looks. Even then, you have to put everything into perspective, because some guy on an 8'0" funboard might down-vote a dumpy, puntable day, whereas I would be stoked.
Probbly should check WaveReport for the wave quality. That being said, I saw those waves yesterday and they were shite. For reports I like to say i had a good time in poor plus conditions. Good old' Snarklar.
+1 for dumpy waves.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. just snagged a couple fun ones, not as many dolphins. have faith, fall is around the corner.
free hugs for all by tenderloin tom at 1pm on 5th and market st today only!!!!!!!!!
It is called stokereport. And - I want to hear about your stoke. However, there's also an informational aspect. In otherwords, I want 2 things:
1. An objective report about the waves so I can decide whether to go or not (that's my poor / fair / good rating)
2. A description of your session, whether you had a good time, saw dolphins, etc.
All 2 and no 1 is not as helpful as a mix of the two.
@Kenny, Your point is a totally valid one. If that's what Mark is suggesting, he's lacking your articulation. Yes, the reporting here is generally totally subjective and based on multiple variables such as skill, knowledge of conditions, and expectation. For example, I'd never give anything other than head highish and up with glass or offshores a "great." I'd never give DOH and above a report, and I if I did, I'd opt for "terrifying" over "good" because I tend to avoid the beach anytime it goes above around ten feet after a rough board snap, hold-down, and long swim a couple years back. I should probably get over and man up again, but the fact is I'm more suited to standard class surfing, and I know how to be honest about it. There's a handful of serious rippers here, perhaps yourself included, that surf excellently, and can handle the really big stuff. I'm sure there's also a solid handful of folks that don't go after much more than waist high Linda Mar low tide closeouts. I would never use reports on this site as any sort of valid guage for when or when not to go surf. Anyone that does should heed your advice in regards to resources. In my opinion, the point here is offer up a place where people can share their experiences and opinions, and discuss them, hopefully with at least a marginal level of respect and understanding. That being said, as we all know, differences in opinion and experience always result in clashes. Again, well said.
One surfer's crap is another's fun in the sun. I think rather than poor-great, descriptions are the best reports. How many feet, how much wind, shape, etc. Or whatever.
Marklar, I feel very fortunate to have been a transplant all my life. I've lived in Amsterdam, Costa Rica, a regrettable stint in Fort Lauderdale Florida and here which is my favorite.
You should get out more. The Sunset is great but there's a whole world out there.
Just went for a post-work run on the beach. This afternoon exemplified the discussion at hand: I recognize the appeal of the nice weather. Apparently it coaxed a fair amount of folks into the water. Yet, the waves looked like utter shit. Hacked, weak, and totally disorganized. I couldn't muster the motivation based on sunshine and warm temps alone. However, if you did, and had fun, good for ya. Saw some family surf action that made me smile.
Thing is, we have decided as a group that we don't want people to get specific about conditions and locations. Surf Report is for Surf Lie. Stoke Report is for here. My two cents.
Im going negative on this one...not even checkin 2 foot surf. Had hella other shit to do.
hope you all had fun,but yeah....too small, means not quite Fall :(
I welcome all thumbs down on this one :'(
Vote down the unfocused tender knob duo? NEVER. I'm thumbs upping you like a hitch hiker. You picking up what I'm putting down?
the dualistic nature of the surf report vs. stoke report, subjective vs. objective free will vs determinism is quite stimulating, let alone the epistemic question of how much we can know about the surf conditions if we are not actually at the beach. if a double overheard a frame peels for days but no one is there to get pitted, so pitted, does it make a stoke?
Yeah, that's it, in a nutshell...a shakabrah to you @fully. Before your enlightenment, like, when you weren't so wise, were you ever known as, like, halfbrah, or Hoffbrau, or something? No doubt the road was long and difficult to becoming fullybrah. Hat's off and a full thumb.
ur making me blush sharky. im no sage. i just like big waves, big titties and big beers (at the hoffbrau with the hoff of course) im a simple man really. How bout u? how did you become a bodhisatva? did you evolve from turd ferguson?
actually, Turd Ferg is my raison d'etre, my mentor and hero. Were I not ensconced inside this sharkturd-skin suit, I would surely have a stache and black leather jack like cousin Turd...as it is, now all I have are boney surfers, shrink wrapped in rubber and crappy surf, and leatherback turtles.
