Swell Drops; Conditions Improve

Edited and updated on Monday, October 27.

A steady southwest wind blew for the entire session, sculpting wind scallops on the face of the deep and keeping me warm from all the paddling I had to do just to stay in one spot. Fortunately the fog was not nearly as pervasive as yesterday so visibility was good. Wind was chill, the great hall was the gunmetal gray color of Winter and it felt good to be in the nascent change from Fall to Winter.

Yellow House wasn't working due to the drop in swell size, so I spent my time surfing Sarges and various peaks in and around Casa Roja. I swapped out the Scimitars for the JC460's and put my K2D2 4.75" center fin back in. The set-up worked great! Loosened things up a bunch, with still plenty of wave face stickability and speed. I continue to be amazed at what an incredible difference fins make on a surfboard. If you're not swapping fins, and trying different things, your missing 60% of the value of your boards versatility. You definitely have more boards hidden in your one board than you think. Try it, you'll like it!

Overall, while it was a good session, I just couldn't seem to find a groove or a steady rhythm. I found myself constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time. I floated around in an inside hole in the reef and rode out the biggest and longest set of the afternoon. I stopped counting at 12 waves. My wave choice just sucked. I'd ride into close-out after close-out and paddle back through three super sloped peaks with shoulders. Arrgghhh!Sometimes it just goes that way. Oh yeah and my favorite...four guys out, take three waves and three guys are floating around in the white water, directly in front of the most critical section of the wave. What! Hey...that's surfing. It was still fun, and beautiful and healthy and great exercise and so much better than GOLF!

NOTE: Data notation change. I'm going to start using the CDIP data instead of the data directly from the NDBC. CDIP is initialized by NDBC data, but the models includes deep water swell AND wave face sizes. More efficient, and I like the graphics.
Oct 26, 2008 (Su)
In: 1610
Out: 1810
AT= 55F to 53F
WT= 56F at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Patchy fog with lowering ceilings near dark
Tide: .82' Rising to 2.6'
Wind: Southwest 4-7 mph, gusting to 12
Sea Surface: Wind rippled with light backwash bump
10'2" Angulo SUP with Infinity Ottertail paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with K2D2 4.75" center fin and Future JC 460 sides
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
CDIP: Deep Water Swell
1500: 10.6 feet @ 14 NW (310 degrees-NPAC) and 2.3 @ 14 SSW (210 degrees-SPAC)
1600: 9 feet @ 14 NW (310 degrees-NPAC) and 1.7 @ 14 SSE (160 degrees-SPAC)
1700: 10.6 feet @ 14 NW (310 degrees-NPAC) and 2.5 @ 14 SSW (190 degrees-SPAC)
1800: 9 feet @ 14 NW (310 degrees-NPAC) and .4 @ 20 SSW (205 degrees-SPAC)
CDIP: Wave Face Heights
1500: 4-6 feet
1600: 2-6 feet
1700: 4-8 feet
1800: 2-6 feet