Dodging Storms

A small wind swell made landfall last night and was putting up some pretty good numbers on the buoys, but the early morning high tide was swamping wave production down to zero. On top of that, a steep angled NPAC storm was moving in from the NW and was forecast to bring east/southeast winds by the afternoon. I figured I could dodge the storm and get a few decent low energy wind swell waves if I hit it around 11AM.

I paddled out at Sarges at 1044 and in a half hour had nine fun waves. Barry joined me, convinced after our parking lot chat, that there might be a few fun waves to be had. Dave arrived on his stand up shortly and we proceeded to take down numerous waves in the hour and a half we put in.

The sea was bumpy because of the near shore storm that was sending us these waves, but the sea surface was glass. About noon a Christmas vacation gaggle of kids and a dad paddled out and we all decided that we'd had enough. Dave and I paddled in, and Barry opted to try his luck at Casa's, which looked pretty good even though the tide was starting to circle the drain. I thought it would start raining by mid-afternoon at the latest but it didn't. It stayed sunny all afternoon and into the evening before starting to cloud over in the late evening.

Today was probably it until after Christmas. Hopefully Santa will leave us something to enjoy besides crumbs and an empty glass after the holiday.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Dec 23, 2008 (Tu)
In: 1044
Out: 1215
AT= 50F to 51F
WT= 53F
Wx: Partly cloudy
Tide: 2.37' Falling to 0.8
Wind: Southeast calm with gusts up to 5mph
Sea Surface: Mostly glassy with bump and roll
10-2 Angulo SUP with Infinity Ottertail paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with K2D2 4.75" center fin (second mark up from back) and Future FJC1
Bathymetry: Reefs
Deep Water Swell CDIP:
1100: 10.3 feet @ 12 NW (305 degrees-NPAC) and @ (0 degrees-SPAC)
1200: 11.3 feet @ 14 NW (310 degrees-NPAC) and @ (0 degrees-SPAC)
1300: 10.3 feet @ 12 NW (310 degrees-NPAC) and @ (0 degrees-SPAC)
Wave Face Heights CDIP and first person observations:
1100: 2-4 feet
1200: 2-4 feet
1300: 2-4 feet
Buoy: NWS (Nearshore)
1200: 5.2 feet @ 11.1 WNW
1200: 5.6 feet @ 13.3 WNW
1200: 4.9 feet @ 10.4 WNW