Onshore Winds and Fading Choi Wan Swell

There was light drizzle in the air, and it felt like rain this morning when I paddled out at 0815 on GB2. Usually the onshores don't start up until 9AM or so, but this morning it was already breezy early. A half hour later it went to moderate winds and by the time I got out the sea surface was wind chopped and wave faces were crumbly.

When it was glassy there were some fun rides every once in a while, amongst the close outs and the fake outs. The last of the typhoon Choi Wan driven waves would have been higher quality and much cleaner in decent conditions. (The swell didn't have much energy left by the time it made landfall in my neighborhood last Friday. The reefs were disappointing. I didn't get in the water all during the the heart of the swell because of teaching and our last GSF service. I was hoping the weather would hold up before things fade out later this week.) GB2 worked well though, handling the chunky faces and messy sections with stable efficiency. The mini-Simmons rides the white water so smoothly that rides to the beach and "face" maneuvers in the white wash are common. Instead of having to kick out, fall off, or bog down, the Ghost Buster makes riding sloppy waves fun.

The low pressure trough that is causing the dismal Winter preview is slated to move through pretty quickly, so tomorrow morning may be a bit smoother. We'll see, but anyway it turns out, unless it's howling victory at sea onshores, I'll be taking down some waves on the Ghost Buster.

September 28, 2009 (M)

In: 0815
Out: 0930
AT= 57F
WT= 57.6F
Wx: Overcast and gray
Tide: 4.1' High tide; Falling to 3.98'
Wind: Light onshores increasing to moderate
Sea Surface: Light to moderate wind chop, no white caps

5-11 Freeline Ghost Buster 2 Mini-Simmons
Bathymetry: Sand bars
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Farshore #1-Nearshore-Farshore #2)
Time-NDBC Data-CDIP Data (Primary Swell Dir.)(Local Wave Ht. Avg.)
0700: 5.2 feet @ 13.8 WNW - 3.0 feet @ 14.3 W (305) (2-3 ft. faces)
0800: 4.9 feet @ 14.8 W - 2.6 feet @ 12.5 WNW (300) (2-3 ft. faces)
0900: 4.9 feet @ 12.1 WNW - 3.3 feet @ 12.5 WNW (295) (2-3 ft. faces)
1000: 5.2 feet @ 12.1 WNW - 3.0 feet @ 13.3 WNW (no data) (no data)