Finally...Some Sun

For the first time in about a week and a half, the sun rose into a clear and cloudless sky, with a brisk offshore as counterpoint. Sept/Oct are usually the best months for great weather, but so far it's been more like June Gloom. When it was cold like this I used to sarcastically laugh and say..."oh yeah, global warming!" But hey, this is global warming. Hot inland and cold at the coast. Anyway...

A non-overcast morning adds 20 minutes to an early paddle out time, one that I missed this morning by about...20 minutes. Launched from Sarges at 0635, prepared to do the point route and back. Better waves are starting to fill in with a new west/northwest swell, and a small south, but it really isn't cranked up yet. Tomorrow and into the weekend should be pretty good (as good as it's gonna get anyway) and then things don't look so good after that.

Chatted with Greg at GDubs and picked off a few there before heading up coast to Tres Eights and the point. It was small and somewhat inconsistent at Dubs, but a few good ones were swinging wide, making for some racy walls on the inside. Paddled through Eights and hung out at a couple spots at the point. Steve was out, but just getting ready to head in for work. I ended up standing pretty far inside where I was able to pick up some wide ones that the pack either couldn't get, or if they could, closed out on 'em. Got quite a few waves before heading back to Sarges and the take out.

On one little ripping insider at the point I got crossed up by the kelp and pitched forward. I stopped my forward motion with my left hand to the board, let go of the paddle and was holding it with the right only. As I lunged forward, my paddle and hand dipped into the brine whereby my paddle was promptly engaged by a ball of kelped and ripped out of my grasp. That's a first, thought I. I dropped to the deck prone and eased out the back, instantly craning my neck, looking for the paddle. Thanks to the yellow electrical tape I have wound around the paddle shaft, I saw it immediately floating about 25 feet away. I sprinted to the paddle and retrieved it before the next whitewash came through. Kelp!

On the way back I got caught in a set just past the main peak at Eights. I picked up a nice little bomb right in front of 3Palms for a long ride into the beach. I decided to see if there were any more of those and there was one...15 mintues later. Picked up a late takeoff in a steep section that was the wave of the day for me there. Rode the momentum back down coast to GDubs.

John "You Really Missed It" was out with Andy, getting the wide ones. Talked about how John has never surfed P Creek better in 25 years again, and then again, and then again, before ragging on him again, and again and again. Good thing we're friends 'cause this is actually fun!

The sequence is Andy on one of the inside rippers. I kept yelling at him to get five, which he promptly did, just before pearling. Just out of frame he went for a bareback swim. Ha-ha...I love it when that happens. Here I am, Mr. Weenie in my 4/3, and these guys are trunkin' it. Have they no respect for my ego? (As I was climbing the trail back to the lot, I ran into Dave, SUP on head...also trunkin' it!) They hate me...

Sept 18, 2008 (Th)
In: 0635
Out: 0900
AT= 48.5F to 60.4F
WT= 59.8F at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Clear and sunny.
Tide: 1.8 Rising to 3.2
Wind: Offshore 1-5mph
Sea Surface: Light offshore wind rippling to glassy
Buoy: NWS
0700: 3.9 feet @ 12.1 W
0800: 3.3 feet @ 10.8 W
0900: 3.6 feet @ 10.9 WNW
1000: 3.6 feet @ 10.9 WNW
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity Ottertail paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with K2D2 4.75" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
CDIP: (0800 hours) 2.3 feet at 11 seconds from 290 degrees and 2.2 feet at 14 seconds from 185 degrees