Surfing at The Hook

With recent surfing in Ventura, Alex and I were ready to return to surfing at "The Hook" in Capitola. When we arrived at 2:30pm, finding parking was difficult. After a few go-arounds, I found a parking spot on Opal Cliff Drive.

After I parked the Lexus RX350, we waxed our boards and headed for the Hook. The waves were rolling nicely, but there were a lot of surfers out there; Alex suggested staying on the right side to have the right of way. Alex could catch many waves while I struggled with my Firewire Spitfire 6'6" shortboard. It was my third day on the shortboard, and I still had to get accustomed to it after spending the previous year surfing on the Wavestorm 8' longboard.

There are a few suggestions from Rob Case on Youtube:

1. Keep your head still (do not sway the head)
2. High Elbow Entry. (Keep elbow high when entering the water). Reaching over a barrel
3. Slight roll around an imaginary rod
4. Point your feet back to reduce drag (or put one leg on top of another)

Alex provided the following advice/suggestions:

1. Always look ahead and never look down on the board.
2. After selecting the wave to surf, turn your board around but lower it gently, bringing the nose to you so that the nose never sinks below the water.
3. Paddle with long, powerful strokes
4. Do not stop paddling until you feel the wave really take you
5. When duck diving, push the board with one knee (not two)

While I struggled to catch the waves, Alex was much more successful. I didn't expect much since this was only my third day on the shortboard. I hoped to have one decent ride, but the waves were inconsistent and hard to catch.

Here is a short video I recorded of Alex's attempt to surf on the Nikon P900 superzoom mounted on a tripod: