Small Windswell in Low Vis Fog

Well so much for Indian Summer. The hot spell called for this week has fizzled. The thermal trough which was supposed to set up on the coast, set up inland. So while it's in the 80's and 90's in the valley, it's in the 60's on the coast with an onshore wind and fog blowing up the corridor. Oh well, par for the course for this unseasonably low temp Summer. Who knows, maybe it will heat up later in the month, or in October, but I kinda doubt it. I think it's got something to do with altered weather patterns due to three years of drought and La Nina.

The beaches were about the only place that had waves this morning. When I arrived, the parking lot was pretty clear, that is you could see to the other end of it. Inland another 100 yards it was clear as a bell. At the ocean overlook you could barely see the ocean three hundred feet away the fog was so thick. All that was really visible was the surf line as it peeled directly onto the sand. Couldn't see any waves at all, but...you could hear some. That was good enough for me.

Surfed the mini-Simmons for an hour and a half in small, juiceless 1-2 ft. local wind swell. There wasn't much push in the majority of the waves, but there were sets, and in those sets you could pick out a couple of fun rides, some even had shoulders.

Buzz was out on his new Surftech/Bob Pearson 10-6 SUP. I hadn't seen him in a while so we had a chance to catch up in between waves. His son is surfing club competitions, and on the high school surf team, and Buzz is enjoying the trips and surfing in various locales throughout the state. He's been doing some distance paddling and will paddle in the San Fran race this weekend.

In between chatting and surfing, the fog would get thicker (about 50 ft. visibility) and thinner (you could see land). Half the time I couldn't see my lineup so I'd take a wave in and realize I had drifted about a hundreds yards down coast. Still, caught a lot of good waves and had some fun chit-chat too.

September 22, 2009 (Tu)

In: 0845
Out: 1020
AT= 56F-61F
WT= 57.7F
Wx: Heavy fog
Tide: 2.8' Rising to 4.0'
Wind: Calm to very light onshore
Sea Surface: Mostly glassy

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: 4.9 feet @ 10 NW - 1.6 feet @ 10.5 WNW (310) (1-2 ft. faces)
0800: 5.2 feet @ 10.8 NW - 2.0 feet @ 10.5 WNW (300) (1-2 ft. faces)
0900: 4.9 feet @ 10.8 NW - 2.0 feet @ 11.1 WNW (305) (1-2 ft. faces)
1000: 4.6 feet @ 10 NW - 1.6 feet @ 11.1 WNW (310) (1-2 ft. faces)
1100: 4.3 feet @ 10,8 NW - 2.0 feet @ 10.5 WNW (315) (1-2 ft. faces)