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Srfnff
January 9, 2012 Photo: J. Chandler

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

First Day of Indian Summer in Fun 2-3 Ft. Waves

I'm calling this the first day of "Indian Summer." Weather was fantastic with a clean and clear sunrise free from any clouds or fog. The NWS is calling for almost a week of warm weather. It's about that time of year so I'm going with Indian Summer.

I think the swell today was a mix of almost gone Dujuan WNW swell, some new more local windswell (i.e. not deep NPAC swell) and maybe a touch of SW swell. The SW wasn't showing on the nearshore buoy and I'm pretty skeptical of southies that aren't hitting you over the head on all the data measuring instruments.

I was in at daylight and paddling to GDubs. Paul beat me out, as usual. Today I could see well enough to catch waves at 0617. Yesterday, in the fog and overcast I couldn't see well enough until 0640. What a difference clear skies make! I couldn't find my groove at G's so I paddled over to FP's for the remainder of my three hour session. With the Summer crowds mostly gone, there were a lot fewer people. Just about everyone surfing is more or less local. They were all out yesterday, and the day before. The regular dawn patrol crew. At about 0740, it seemed like everyone got out, and there were a whole seven people out. Sweet! Then the second surfer shift came on board and the numbers went back up a bit.

Waves today were both good and fun, although smaller than yesterday with less energy rolling through over all. The line-ups were almost identical. I caught a ton of waves again on the mini-Simmons, snagging long, lined up, held up waves from the takeoff to the cave. Again the GhostBuster2 is just an amazing board. It's been a long time since I surfed a three hour session on a lay down board. The GB2 is so stable it just doesn't hurt my back like a tippier board. (Of course lot's of stretching, almost two years of SUP therapy, good sports massage therapy and a super knowledgeable chiropractor don't hurt either.)

For me I think days like today are the best. The surf isn't epic, or even classic, it is just good, solid, 100% of the time FUN. Everyone in the lineup is relaxed and friendly and there are plenty of waves to go around. And when it's sunny, clear and warm? It just doesn't get any better....well, I guess the water could be warmer. (I'm such a whiner!)

September 15, 2009 (Tu)
In: 0617
Out: 0915
AT= 53F-62F
WT= 56.1-57F
Wx: Sunny and clear with no marine layer
Tide: 2.87' Rising to 4.54'
Wind: Light offshore early switching to southwestly
Sea Surface: Glassy with light wind ripples after a while and some backwash chop
5-11 Freeline Ghost Buster 2 Mini-Simmons
Bathymetry: Reef and sand
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Farshore-Nearshore)
Time-NDBC Data-CDIP Data (Primary Swell Dir.)(Wave Ht. Ave.)
0500: 6.2 feet @ 11.4 WNW - 3.6 feet @ 11.1 WNW (305) (2-3 ft. faces)
0600: 6.9 feet @ 11.4 WNW - 3.0 feet @ 11.1 WNW (300) (2-3 ft. faces)
0700: 6.6 feet @ 10.0 WNW - 3.3 feet @ 10.5 WNW (295) (2-3 ft. faces)
0800: 6.2 feet @ 10.0 WNW - 3.3 feet @ 11.8 WNW (310) (2-3 ft. faces)
0900: 5.9 feet @ 10.8 WNW - 3.0 feet @ 11.1 NW (305) (2-3 ft. faces)
1000: 6.2 feet @ 10.8 W - 2.6 feet @ 11.1 NW (320) (2-3 ft. faces)
1100: 5.9 feet @ 10.0 WNW - 2.6 feet @ 10.5 WNW (305) (2-3 ft. faces)
NOTE: Small background south running approx. 2 ft. at 14 seconds, 165-210 degrees.

2 comments:

  1. The a.m. conditions sure look a lot better than the evening conditions. I jumped in at GDubs tonight after work, and it was serviceable for about an hour, than it deteriorated rapidly with the increasing onshores and rising tide. Managed to get a few bombs before it went all chunky-junky and I was pretty stoked just to catch the tail end of this swell. Good news is that the crowd at GDs was light, despite the usual ant farm at Scimis, so wave count was decent. I had it to myself for the last 40 minutes of daylight, mostly because it pretty much sucked by then. I thought the water was pretty warm...

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  2. The afternoon winds were pretty brutal alright. I checked your side by webcam and it look totally thrashed and junkified. Yeah the water's warm too. Up to 57 from 55 point something. At least I'm still surfing without booties. With the spate of good weather coming I think the water might even get up to 58 or 59. Time for the real men to bareback it and all the standup guys but me to be out in ball caps, boardshorts and rash guards.

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