StokeReport User Surf Reports

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:38:14 -0800

1pm-230pm OB. jekyll and hyde situation. lefts were steep and hollowish and fast and broke hard and i wasn't enough of a rodeo star to manage them. rights were smooth and clean and pleasurable, and my desire for smooth & clean pleasure prevailed; i got lotsa rights. wind was moderate sideshore/offshore, sun was out, and it was just me and the gulls, and a few heads in the distance. better than i thought it'd be --- kind of the theme for the week, for me.

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:38:51 -0800

1030am-1230pm. I love OB --- for 2+ hours, there was not even another soul within earshot, save for the dolphins, as I feasted on glassy head-high peaks at a mysto-bar that for whatever reason, was choosing to break fairly consistently despite what should have been a suffocating 6+ high tide. Sunny, windless, glassy, gorgeous day, and plenty of nice rides. Who would'a known? Stoked.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 05:57:57 -0700

I thought I'd sneak in a little dawn patrol session this morning - but instead brothers and sisters - I am now learning, as I witness this lamentable crumble-jumble before me, that my purpose is to suggest that you all save the gas, sleep, or whatever other exhaustible resource that you might have burned through, in order to take a look for yourselves. Any one who'd coax a fun session out of this crap is a more optimistic person than I - and I tend on the optimistic end of the spectrum. Oh well. I tried.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Fri, 13 May 2011 07:49:26 -0700

Dismal. One poor guy getting tossed about the crumbly whitecapped windslop, and that's about the extent of it. Gonna head a little bit south and see if there's anything on offer. Agree with yesterday's favorable Santa Cruz reports, but what wasn't mentioned (perhaps because it's a given) is that by 9am or so, each tight little peak had about quadruple its reasonable carrying capacity of surfers on it, and when the waist-chest high rides would finally come in, we'd all be jockeying desperately to be the one lucky taker. There was one crazy chick in a bikini, though - that was nuts.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:48:43 -0700

Well. Linda Mar was pumping out in glassy, offshore, machine-like consistency... the only problem is that it was consistently nothing but close-outs. Mind-shatteringly frustrating, because I spent a good three hours in the water, thinking the whole time to myself, that I'm gonna catch it awesome when the tide fills in... it'll be here soon... any time now... aw jeez, throw me a little shoulder or two... come on please... aaaargh! Shoulda "driven south" or joined Eduardo420 in Santa Cruz for some of that "good"ness. Oh well. Live and (don't) learn.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:29:21 -0700

Mostly pretty sloppy shore dump and/or closeouts, though there are a surprising number of guys out there, some of whom are squeezing some blood out of today's stone. Sun's shining, but otherwise not much to get excited about.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:13:17 -0800

Summery slop-chop-crap, under gorgeous summery sunny skies. Great day to work on that awkward wetsuit-midneck surf-farmer tan, or get some paddling exercise sampling the crap-platter up and down the various portions of the beach. Deservedly uncrowded. I caught enough anemic shoulders to call it a day.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

Intensity/anger/stoke

David — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:46:11 -0800

I had a pretty interesting experience, late morning on Wednesday, which had gotten me thinking and reflecting all day. After seeing the impressive power pushing through at OB, I thought I might explore down south a bit, and get a sense for how this swell was lighting up some breaks that are less familiar to me...

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:55:59 -0800

10am-noon: Big clean offshore peaks on the horizon, hitting the outer bar dramatically but then quickly losing steam, leaving mostly weird double-ups on the inside - though, on occasion, something tasty would creep into the inside bar as well, let me in, then give me a sound beating on the shallows. Yes, yes, I remember who's boss... Anyways, I got drubbed hard a bunch of times - sea-and-sand-in-my-sinuses kinda day - as I dropped in for a short ride then foolishly chased the elusive coverup on the inside. It was changing continually as the tide plummeted toward zero... might be pretty good at this point

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:37:31 -0800

10am-noon, actually started out pretty nice and glassy with that beautiful rain-dappled ocean surface that I love, and featuring some clean frequent small peaks coming thru for those of us on LB's and fish. was stoked for a while there. I love surfing in the rain, when the wind is still, waves are cooperating, and all the world is water above and below. problem was, though, that by 11am, the wind was far from still (oh DAMN! - how quickly an onshore wind can poop a party - even one that's been going solid for two weeks) and so the chop came up and the waves started to get tumbled about in the chop. so anyway, it started out pretty tasty and fun, but at this point it's turned into a messy hodge-podge storm soup. fair on entry, poor on exit.

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:27:15 -0800

11am-2pm, glassy clean surface, gentle offshores, overcast patchwork of clouds and intermittent light rain, and waist-to-chest-high, occasional lucky head-high energy coming thru. did a lot of moving around to meet up with the shoulders coming through - happy to have had plenty of foam with me. an utterly mellow about-face as compared with the barrelling behemoths of days past - but, lots of fun

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:30:05 -0800

though lots of close-outs, there were plenty of rideable and powerful HH-OH rights as the high tide waned, between about 11am and 1pm today. killer consistent strong offshore windflow, just like all week. i'm a huge fan of the crazy offshore "rain-spray" phenomenon, especially when the waves are solid and sculpted, and the sun is burning bright so all the spray turns into kinetic rainbows raining cold liquid goodness all over my stoked core. when you got into the right slot today, you could dial into a high fast line for a couple of turns, before either flipping over the lip, or getting an ass-kicking if you milked an extra turn before the closeout. third session of my week, and this was the best for me. happy new year, y'all.

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:41:30 -0800

i took the "tour du OB" on the northbound train today between 10am-1230pm, despite paddling against the current like a rag doll against a speeding mack truck. in the course of my journey, i went from fat soft serve ice cream tease-peaks which barely chose to break, to a zone featuring straight down skate-ramp style-drops, to a whole madhouse zone of crazy stacked-up steepies with a fairly punishing inside. it's a bit wild and woolly out there, and you'll probably get something you like, til mother OB pushes you along to the next attraction

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:03:52 -0800

Clean walls under blue sunny skies. Plenty o'waves. Chest high on the sets. Surfed noon til 2pm; and its cleaner now than when I got in, though it feels like the wind may be switching for the worse right now - can't quite tell. No reason not to paddle out, if ya can

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:04:05 -0800

11am-1230pm, chest-head-high clean offshore shapely walls, some of which held up for some fun racy long rides. nice. lots of takers in the comically overcrowded central area, so I opted for a less popular but totally working left, away from the pack, that stoked me repeatedly. as i was leaving, it looked like it might have started to degenerate/disintegrate somewhat, and also the tide is dipping into negatory zone at this point, but hell, it was pretty good for a while

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:33:45 -0800

A feast if you've got the right fork, and you don't mind a helluva lotta takers. Chest to head high; getting a little messy now but was clean between 10-noon.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:25:02 -0800

Improving somewhat as the 7.0 high tide loosens its death grip, but still rather meager. Glassy, but mostly pop-up-then-disappear peaks on the far inside shallows, on tap today. Lucky curling shoulder here and there. Mellow.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:59:00 -0800

dreamy little wave fields, buffeted by the offshore breeze, sparkling silvery glistening and clean, sweet long log rides, with a few infrequent rogue chest to head high indicators of winter things past and future. no big fat hope diamonds, but sometimes ya just wanna run your fingers over an endless string of smooth little pearls. ah, knee to waist high can be really good sometimes... sweet and stoked on the 9'2" single fin. presence of the sun in the later morning, pushed the mercury into the balmy low 50s, so the thaw wasn't too bad afterward, either

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:41:16 -0800

dawn patrol featured cold, brown, shifty, inconsistent head high peaks at the big end of the beach... oh and did i mention cold? i thought i was being smart and getting out before sunrise, but it turns out that the sun would have served me quite a useful thermoregulatory function today. chilly air. anyway, looked like it was improving as i was getting out... offshore and some shoulders to be had at this point... but i'm still concentrating on thawing out. off to SoCal for thxgiving, and hoping that the reports of "1-2ft and poor" all thru sunday are proven wrong. happy thxgiving to all

(Submitted via the Web)

Linda Mar - poor/psychotic conditions

David — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 13:26:52 -0800

Let me qualify the "poor" rating, though. It looked a little crappy from the lot, but then I got in the water at 8am and proceeded to get a sweet head high reeling left, then a racy right wall, then another nice left, all in the first 15 minutes. Needless to say, I was in full stoke effect, my appetite for more whetted by the killer sequence to open up my session...

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:23:15 -0800

Choppy and wild - but still much better than yesterday's unsurfable negatory frustration-fest. Lots of short lefts at the big end of the beach. Like a nice chop suey, heavy on the chop. With the shifty inconsistent peaks and chaotic surface conditions, there was some angry shortboard-longboard dynamics and some crazy near-misses happening too - with which I was thankfully uninvolved. Poor "plus" because at least the swell was coming thru, albeit psychotically.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:53:20 -0800

Pros: sunny, warm, uncrowded
Cons: crappy, choppy, messy, waist-to-head high closed out waves. Poor.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

David — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:35:30 -0700

buttery soft silvery glassy rollers under a sublime autumn overcast sky... had that pink floyd "echoes" verse going through my head again. waves didn't have a whole lotta bite where i was doing my thing, but it was as relaxing a day as OB generally offers. still waves on tap, but more of a slow-butterball-turkey than a spicy-wild-game kinda day. i had my 9'2" with me, and was expecting one of the more memorable beatings of my life, or at least some intermittent decimation, but the whole thing felt like a slow-mo 3-D black/white ocean relaxation video. stoked, in a trippy "valium" kinda way

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:19:06 -0700

waves were soft but plentiful for the lunchtime session today. nice drop, a turn or two, then generally a heaving closeout... but with the misty fog in full effect, minimal visibility of landmarks or even other surfers to the north and south, it was kinda like surfing in a Pink Floyd dreamscape. Meddle or something trippy like that. Or some sepia photo from the distant past. No glaring sunlit reminders of civilization. I coulda been anywhere. I was loving it. Yes, it would have been even better if the sandbars were focusing the peaks better, but who's complaining?

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:04:36 -0700

small, but clean and glassy and consistent between 7am and 9am this morning. waist (maybe chest?) high on the goodies. as i'll generally take small/glassy over big/messy, though, I'm giving it a fair. shortboarders were mostly left out of the fun today - it was a logging club out there. I was well-served on a 9'2". increasingly well-attended as the morning went on (comically crowded as I left the water). no adrenaline on tap, but sufficient glide to keep it real today.

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:51:39 -0700

Clean waist to chest high walls, sunny, and the wind is only just now starting to blow the Chez Taco-mar flag to its usual onshore flutter. Got a fair number of nice glassy rights and lefts this morning between 730am-1030am.
And, most novel of all, I was delighted to see that it was crowded, in light of that 25000 lbs, 50 ft "dolphin" that seems to be dining around here nowadays. Safety in numbers

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:58:19 -0700

Heartbreakingly poor contrast from the past few sessions this week. Utterly anemic knee-high meageroonies, that are just that little increment bigger than "flat", making me somewhat question what to do, now that I'm already here. Onshore texture. Though there's some folks out there catching little ones, I haven't seen any one get a single good ride in 20 minutes. Painful. Gonna drive south a bit. OB was blown out chunkfunk. Need... waves...

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:49:03 -0700

Currently, we've got knee to waist high log-able lines, onshore wind but still relatively clean. More organized now than it was at cloudy/foggy 730am. So with the sun and all, its still pretty favorable/fun, but for the significant crowding. Zurffy out there with a stylin' cross step. Poor+ or Fair-, esp as its a million times better than the flat spell we just suffered through

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:52:26 -0700

Sleepy little morning rollers... "it" sure ain't here quite yet. Suiting up and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Dialing down the Expectation-o-Meter right now. Click, click, click... Yawn... Click

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:58:29 -0700

sloppy onshore hodge-podge of smallish half-witted longboardable waves. got in around 10am, got out around 11am; a short session. definitely more fun than what it appeared from the parking lot. probably about a dozen somewhat decent rides in about an hour - so, definitely not complaining. but definitely not raving either.

(Submitted via the Web)

Insane North Shore surfing - huge - leashless - on logs! 45yrs ago! [video]

David — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:30:09 -0700

Crazy cool footage and narration - apparently from a Dale Davis film called "The Golden Breed" in the mid-60s.

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:52:05 -0700

1030am-1230pm: Expecting blown out slop, I was pleased to be treated to surprisingly clean lines, waist-chest high, buffetted by offshore and non-destructive sideshore winds. Huge number of soft-top newbies in the water, so the crowd factor was more bark than bite, thought there was a bit of a "slalom" component to the inside. Solid "fair" for a while, then started losing some punch as the tide got too high. Stoked either way, though.

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:37:22 -0700

progressively improved over the course of the morning; started out around 7:30am glassy but drained out, offering a shoulder here and there under very flat light; by 10:30 when I got out, the bars had awakened and were offering up finicky but fun lefts and rights, up and down the beach. high surfer:wave ratio all morning though. and then another deluge of surfcampers in the comic relief zone as I was heading away...

(Submitted via the Web)

good surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:10:00 -0700

10am-2pm peeling fun consistent lefts and rights all over the beach. Wind is minimal at this point, but the tide is just starting to dampen it a bit. There's still plenty o' waves if you want 'em, though.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:24:58 -0700

There's glimmers, maybe, of some good tidings yet to come... but they ain't here quite yet. Maybe soon - but at this moment, its drained out and unripe here at Lindy.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:45:13 -0700

Clean glassy 3"-6" semi-hollow peaks peeling left and right all the way up and down the beach. (Yes, I do mean inches, unfortunately... but if I could turn myself into some kind of surfing mouse, or miniature hobbit, I would have found my dream wave... achingly clean and glassy...) No one in the water. A few stupefied surfers in the lot, staring, who have never ever seen it so small.

(Submitted via the Mobile Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:33:48 -0700

Bigger set waves are closing out, but the small-period chest to shoulder high energy offers some warbly but rideable faces. As usual, depends on where you paddle in. Take your pick. Poor plus. Happy Inter-dependence Day to all

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:05:47 -0700

Grab-bag of surprisingly cleanish walls rolling in; steep racy shoulders to be had, some of which offered up some nice face time before closing hard. Solid "fair minus"

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:18:43 -0700

I'm looking at a disorganized assembly of incessant crumbly onshore slop. Dang. Gonna watch it for a while - there's a few guys in the water braving it. Maybe it'll clean up......

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:27:04 -0700

Bummed out by the reports, ie. 35mph gusts on top of 15mph onshores, et cetera, I did what any sensible guy would do - forget 'em and hope they were wrong. So I downed an imperial pint of Low Expectations Lager, and hightailed it down here to grovel for a cold McNugget or two.
Well, lo and behold, I was instead presented with a beggar's banquet of all-I-could-eat meaty mushburgers and even some omelettes that held some flavor beyond the first bite...
Yeah, it's choppy, it sure ain't perfect, but the table is set with a shitload of punchy waves so if you can, come with some goggles and eat up

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:18:40 -0700

It's turned into somewhat of a storm cauldron of close-outs at this point, but between 1030am-1230pm, a few of us (undaunted by the stiff wind) were enjoying our fair share of meaty and fine peaks on the outside. Longboards best. Far surpassed my low expectations coming out. Had a great time. There's still some energy out there for sure, but its looking pretty ungroomed at this point.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:14:44 -0700

between about 8am and 10am, there were plenty of folks in the water, lots of sun, and though it didn't seem terribly windy, there was plenty of residual chop in the flow. occasional fast rideable shoulder, but mostly on the closed out side. shorter boards seemed to be having the day today.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:28:52 -0700

A decent morning to paddle out the log and catch a few mellow ones, if you like overcast skies and drizzle, which I do. Occasional nice left shoulder that held up to the beach, but mostly fairly lackluster. As the tide lowered, the energy bled out of it til it was quite anemic by 9am. Overall, better than staying in bed, for me. Poor "plus" because there certainly were some surfable waves, at least. If the wind stays off it, should hopefully improve in the afternoon with incoming tide

(Submitted via the Web)

Bad news from the Gulf: ‘Top Kill’ Fails

David — Sat, 29 May 2010 16:03:12 -0700

Hmmm.... my only hope is that this calamity will serve as a cautionary tale to those in power who still hold a cavalier opinion of offshore drilling...

good surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:49:31 -0700

Multiple sandbars were working today, concentrating the modest swell energy into clean fun lefts and rights, all up and down the beach. It was great from mid-tide around 10am til the wind hit it at around 1pm. Crowded at times, but a good mood prevailed. Really nice day.

(Submitted via the Web)

good surfing conditions at Santa Cruz - Steamer Lane

David — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:03:44 -0700

Long mellow rides at Cowell's this morning between 7am-8:30am. By 9am, the high tide dulled it somewhat but not entirely. It was clean and nice, and probably will be again this afternoon. Dolphins, an otter, me, my 9'6", and only a couple of other guys out. Afterwards, I checked out the Lane from the cliffs, and it looked overhead and fast but crowded; shortboarders attempting and sometimes making big airdrops and heading down the line; also a highly spirited long-haired longboarder getting in and pulling quasimoto poses (hoots!), and a brave sponger in the mix. Worth the trip.

(Submitted via the Web)

fair surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Wed, 19 May 2010 07:58:09 -0700

Small but clean lines, with none of the god-awful chop of the past windy weeks... a dozen longboarders out, getting some short knee or waist high rides. Its alright. I'm in.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:57:26 -0700

Its tiny out here. Hopefully will turn slightly better w the tide soon. Gonna give it a go w a 9'6" yacht, because I'm here...

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:31:19 -0700

I wish I could report that it was head-high, glassy, and clean as I gaze toward the sea right now; it certainly was, in my head, as I drove down here. But, alas, its just me, sipping on coffee, waiting in the lot, assessing the mess along w a few others, hoping for a good reason to suit up. If you're looking for an epic session, then smoke a J, head back to bed, and dream up something nice....
In my eternal (or perhaps infernal) optimism, though, I may just paddle out anyway.

(Submitted via the Web)

poor surfing conditions at San Mateo - Linda Mar

David — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:59:54 -0700

Yeah, I agree that conditions were pretty poor for most of Linda Mar, but about two or three of us were catching our share of short clean rights and lefts amidst the chop, at the ###### boathouse area, between 10am and about 1230pm. I was happy. The wind was out there texturing it, but not really decimating it... but only at the very ######. Noticed more people getting in as I was getting out, so hopefully SMLM will continue to provide something for us needy souls. Overall, "poor" but somewhat fun anyway

(Submitted via the Web)