Chilean/SW Swells - SUP Session

I got home from the morning session, threw all my stuff into the bathtub, rinsed it good and jumped on the computer. My morning observations were confirmed. This swell was intensifying, and there was no guarantee it would last. 1100 hours was low tide. The midday session would be low tide rising into an increasing swell. What was there to wait for?

My back wasn't going to hold up for another shortboard session, so the SUP got the call. I stretched and warmed up on the beach with John from Freeline, who was heading out on his Laird 12-footer. We paddled out at 1130 into an eight wave set of 2-3 ft. whitewater. Welcome to Sarges.

It was still wally and there were some bombs coming though. None of 'em that I could see, or rode, were makeable. I headed over to Middies as I knew that would be a good and fast (albeit short) ride while we waited for the tide to rise. Paul and his son Will were on it, and taking down a few speedy lines. As the tide came up GDubs, which was crowded with shorties, kept getting better and better...it was getting freaking epic.

I kept my eye on Sarges and Yellow House. YH needs a low tide, and I thought it was finished. I was so wrong! Surftech John paddled out on the new Surftech Jerry Lopez model, and proceeded to rip. Finally, I paddled down to the Yellow House and surfed with Dave and Max for the remainder of the three hour session. Waves and sets were uncharacteristically consistent. Most of the time it was a merry-go-round. I hooked into a number of doubles and triples that had me kicking out past Dick's.

The wind came up pretty strong out of the southwest and that didn't help the fatigue factor any. Finally, I had to call it quits, I was getting too tired to control my board on easy maneuvers that would have been a piece of cake had I been fresh.

What a great session...what a great swell!

Note: Pic is not very representative of the session. I took it way after I got out. I'm not sure what the brown smudges are...I guess I should clean the lenses.
June 16, 2009 (Tu) SUP Session

In: 1130
Out: 1430
AT= 63.5F
WT= 58.5F
Wx: Mostly sunny to start with high cloud cover later.
Tide: 1.4 Rising to 3.2
Wind: Light to moderate south westerlies
Sea Surface: Light wind ripples to moderate wind chop later
10-0 Angulo EPS/Epoxy Custom SUP with Infinity Ottertail carbon fiber paddle

Fin set-up: Thruster with K2D2 4.75" center fin (fourth mark up from back) and Future Fiberglass YU (actual fin not shown)
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Farshore)
Time NDBC Data CDIP Data
1100: 4.6 feet @ 14.8 S (200) (3-5 ft. wave faces)
1200: 4.6 feet @ 16 S (220) (3-5 ft. wave faces)
1300: 4.9 feet @ 14.8 SSE (175) (3-5 ft. wave faces)
1400: 4.3 feet @ 14.8 SSE (190) (2-4 ft. wave faces)
1500: 4.3 feet @ 14.8 S (180) (3-4 ft. wave faces)
1600: 4.3 feet @ 14.8 S (185) (2-4 ft. wave faces)