Srfnff

Srfnff
January 9, 2012 Photo: J. Chandler

Monday, December 3, 2007

West Swell Makes Landfall




The "big" west swell made landfall as advertised. Basically the swell is still on the rise and at 1700 hours is 12' @ 11 seconds. The swell is disorganized and messy with many waves having little separation. It is a raw swell and probably needed another 500 miles of grooming to be really nice.

The NWS is holding it's high surf advisory in effect through Wednesday. The reliable buoys to the north are coming in at 27 feet at 14 seconds and 9 feet @ 14 seconds. Tomorrow may be very large with messy conditions and almost certainly surf heights will be dropping after tomorrow. Those willing to hunt around could find a perfect spot with epic conditions.

People may be better off heading south where conditions might be a lot cleaner than here. Santa Barbara/Ventura might be a good call. I probably won't be making the trip south and when the tide hits four feet and dropping I'll look around here and see what sup...

7 comments:

  1. You've been busy! I'm digging your Sat. images- great idea.

    Hey would you mind taking a couple of photos of your ding repair and the stuff you used to fix it? I've got a little nick on the Big Red from, get this dropping it over a six foot fence onto a brick wall, don't ask.

    Keep us posted on the swell- we're watching!

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  2. Will do John. but the easiest and quickest way to fix a "little nick" is to fine sand it lightly and touch-up paint it. Voila!

    If it is more than a nick, like a recessed scratch, get some ding dough then sand it, fill it, smooth it with water, let it set up in the sun. Sand it and fine sand it, paint it...voila!

    Andy the Waveslayer and I did a full on repair and there were some complications. I'm not done with it yet (but it's watertight) and as soon as I finish I'll post the results and comments.

    I'm looking forward to your post re the big west swell and your neighborhood.

    Aloha bro'. I may surf with your "real" brother tomorrow.

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  3. Here's the quick summary from 6:30am this morning:

    I paddled out by myself while a few other surfers watched from the stairs. Probably thought I was stupid (they were probably right.) There was so much water moving and the tide was high so you had to jump down from the rock and right into the water or you would get bashed back into the cliff.

    I managed to get outside, but I could barely breathe because I started having an asthma attack. I got a couple puffs of my inhaler and kept paddling up to the peak.

    Caught a nice wave and rode it all the way in. Then I got stuck inside for about 3 good "Hubris Dunkings."

    Thought I was going to die because I could barely breathe by this time. I got on my board and finally worked my way outside. My inhaler stopped working and I thought I was going to throw up.

    I had enough so I paddled down to Capitola beach where Mike and Scott picked me up. Big thanks to my friends.

    Reflecting... was it worth it? After all that work and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel: I would take a 3-4ft day with my buddies over monster mash any day.

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  4. Mash
    You are my nominee for the "Biggest SUP Sac of the Day" award for your courage and tenacity. I'm just getting ready to put up today's post...how about tomorrow morning;-)

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  5. Whooo HOoooo that'a way to charge it little bro! Right when you jumped off the rock, right when you hit the water did a little voice inside your head say, "Why am I doing this?"

    Answer: Because that's living man!!!

    Way to go, and great to hear that your buddies look out for each other enough to drive down and pick you up.

    Your reward will be... a new board to test drive down there!

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  6. Er... on edit: Your reward will be... a (slightly used) new board to test drive UP there!

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  7. Michael-
    I had a look at the west side as I head out to work this morning. I've got just one thing to say: You've got balls like grapefruits man!

    Gary-
    Great photos, keep 'em coming for us sorry 7-5ers' (the days of 9 to 5 have been over for a looooong time)!

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