After reading those OB reports from this morning, I figured I'd try my luck further south. Nothing happening at the jetty, so I ventured up to Montara and lucked into some nice waves! Chest-high, offshore, peeling both ways! Two dudes were getting in as I was getting out, but other than that, not a (surfing) soul in sight.
sweetscorebrah!
I love that beach, never surfed it yet.
It has that Monterey feel because of the light sand and blueish water, yet it's relatively close!
Definitely! Although, today the water was a deep emerald green when the sun managed to poke through. Nice and clear too... I could see the bottom, and that always creeps me out a little!
RAD!
Now I wanna go there! arrrrrrgh hahah :D
Sweet score indeed. I had good luck there last spring several times. Maybe it's back in form for the season? One weekend maybe in late April or May I felt like I was a minority amongst groups of Brazilians & Frenchman. Seems like a fickle beach (too big and jumbled most of this winter) but it can set up multiple A frames and there are usually always a few reliable deep channels to get you out quick. In fact, I think I had my first 'dry hair' session there.
@amount: it's especially creepy when you can see the bottom, then see a huge shape moving along the bottom.
Happened to me once. Two huge shapes moving in tandem. The water around me was black but everywhere else you could see the sand. I could see the edge of the shadows moving. I was so terrified I couldn't move - was about to pull the "Craptomail" move and empty my bowels.
Turns out they were two big schools of tiny little fish.
I love Montara: it has the most gorgeous sand around here. But although I've had some really good sessions there, there's something just a little sketchy about it. I'm not talking about the quick dropoff as you get in, more about something weird at the bottom of my lizard brain that has tingled a few times when I'm in the water there.....
I live in Montara, and surf there as often as conditions (and bravery) permit.
During the fall and winter, it's quite a beast. Hard, fast rips. Closeout waves that jack straight up within seconds. An un-merciful border between the sand bar and the deep, deep ocean. The neat thing about Montara's sand bar as compared to most other local beaches is that on a really big swell it forms 20 ft close-out walls of water that crash really hard only 75 yards from the beach. You can literally feel it in your feet. It's the best close-up view of nature's fury around.
During the summer, it becomes welcoming and relaxing - sometimes offering the only waves on the entire coast. The shifting sand, the crafty Ravens, the passing whales and the open ocean right in front of you... all add up to quite an up-close and personal experience with nature!
There are plenty of gorgeous surfing days at Montara with less than 12 people in the water. Then you drive north over Devil's Slide and see 200 at Linda Mar and wonder why...
I was there on Sunday. The last couple of steps are washed out - don't try to walk down on the nubbly plastic. That stuff is super slippery. I clowned it up: my feet shot out from under me (but I kept my huge board from touching ground).
I then proceeded to get pummeled by mixed-up break until I went back to the kiddy pool at Linda Mar.
