Fun 4th/July Waves

I was seduced by the buoy data. The numbers looked too good to pass up, even if I couldn't see a thing on the cams because of thick fog and stratus. And even though I knew it couldn't be that great because there just isn't enough oomph behind this new south swell.

Tide was right at 0800 when I paddled out through a seemingly endless set of incoming waves in front of Bare Butt Beach. Set a course for Yellow House and made it across Al's Reef during a lull which didn't last long. I picked off the first and biggest wave of a ten wave set that gave me my best ride of the day, all the way to Apt. House Point. I picked up two more waves paddling back out for a total of three for ten. Not a bad way to start I thought. It was all downhill from there.

Buoy data's been showing a combo mix of swells from SW to WNW. The southerly stuff is pretty weak even though it's showing well on all the instruments. Southerly pulses were inconsistent with long waits that were filled in with local windswell from the west and northwest. As the tide filled in, it started to swamp.

Got a nice sequence of Chris with the ISO set at 400, still pretty grainy and soft but that's what I get in low light. Maybe I should have shot at 200. I was surprised at how uncrowded it was for the Fourth, possibly because of the fog making it harder to check the spots. Dave C. and Andy paddled over after a bit and we shared some waves before paddling over to Sarges for a few before heading in.

Hard to complain about any of this, we've had so much south swell this year, and a lot of waves to ride. Life is Good!

July 4, 2008 (F)
In: 0800
Out: 0930
AT= 57 - 60 degrees
WT= 55.6 degrees at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Overcast with heavy fog at times
Tide: -0.9 Rising to 0.9
Wind: Calm to SW at 2-3 mph with gusts of 5mph
Sea Surface: Glassy to light to moderate wind ripples
Buoy: NWS
0400: 3.6 feet @ 17.4 SSW
0600: 3.3 feet @ 7.7 WNW
1000: 3.3 feet @ 17.4 SW
1200: 3.6 feet @ 16 SW
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with Bluecoil 5.5" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
CDIP: (0900 hours) 1.7 feet at 8 seconds from 305 degrees and 2.2 feet at 17 seconds from 225 degrees