Gulf Swell Slowly Fading

Truth is the tide was a bit too low for GDubs (and most everywhere else) when I paddled out at 0604. But, I love the dawn patrol and being able to surf for a little while without too many people, in this case this morning, zero. Just me and Big Mama sea otter, along with her son Always Hungry. Felt a lot like Summer, sitting in cold water, with cold fog all around.

Waves were probably about a third to half the size of yesterday, and far less consistent. Along with that the low, low tide and continuing westerly direction of the swell were causing the waves to section into short little rides, close-out, short little ride, close-out etc. But I got a ton of quick and fun rides on the 6-10 before succumbing to the "greener pastures" one peak up coast.

I kept seeing this nice peak and shoulder at the next peak up. When I finally paddled over I realized it wasn't the next peak up that had the really nice peak, it was the second peak up, and that was pretty well covered by about seven guys. Just a handful of chest high sets came through in the next hour and a half, and I didn't get any of the good ones. I was sitting off the good peak, waiting for the loners to swing wide through my peak. It happened once and I was too far inside to catch the wave. Kelp was pretty bad due to the low tide and I was constantly untangling my legs. Oddly enough, as the tide came up, instead of getting cleaner, it just got fatter and more swampy.

A couple of the good riders (I know one of them but couldn't remember his name) were taking down all the best set waves. One guy was just killing it on a quad which I think was a Pavel Speed Dialer. Those boards are fast! I watched him negotiate one particular speedster from inside. I had the front row seat at the live surf movie. Sick!

I almost put the quads in this morning, but thought I'd stick with the tri-fin setup since I was having such a good time on it. I'll put the quads in later today.



May 7, 2009 (Th)

In: 0604
Out: 0755
AT= 53F
WT= 53F
Wx: Fog
Tide: .3' Rising to 2.0'
Wind: Calm to light southwesterlies
Sea Surface: Glassy in the kelp to light wind ripples
6-10 Ward Coffey EPS (Marko Styrolite)/Epoxy Custom

Fin set-up: Thruster/Quad with Future Fins AM1 tri-fin set-up.
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Nearshore)
0600: 5.2 feet @ 11.1 WNW (2 - 3 ft. faces)
0630: 3.9 feet @ 11.8 W
0700: 4.6 feet @ 11.8 WNW (2 - 3 ft. faces)
0730: 4.6 feet @ 11.8 W
0800: 3.9 feet @ 12.5 W (2 - 3 ft. faces)
0830: 5.2 feet @ 12.5 W
0900: 3.9 feet @ 12.5 W