Swell Fading With Steady 2-4 Ft. Surf

Seems like I'm always either late or early. This morning I was early so I burned off some time by taking a few pre-dawn shots in the local ville.

The fun WNW swell is fading away but still managed to deliver consistent 2-4 ft. surf early this morning. It was nice not to have to surf with a mega-crowd. Only a handful of people out at the dawn patrol, but those numbers steadily increased as the day grew brighter.

This was the first day I was actually able to get the GhostBuster2 mini-Simmons into some long and carveable walls, and I did just that. Even though I've only surfed it four times, waves like today, on the fatter and softer side, may just be the perfect wave for this board. The 5-11 just gets up and goes with very little effort on my part. Paddling into a wave is like paddling a much longer board. Popping up on this wide stable platform is easy. The board just isn't tippy and gets right down to the business of planing. I was able to climb and drop, carve around and place the board exactly where I wanted it to be on the wave face. The board will slow and fade by dropping a bit into the trough, then climb right back in the pocket with steady inside rail pressure.

There was never an issue with bogging. The RFC fins offer all the drive necessary to complement the perfect rails and foil that John shaped into the board. I was riding the second peak down from Scimi's Main which is usually a left-overs spot, but today because it was sectioning half the time, it was a great place to be. Rides are usually short and end well before the cave, but I was surfing almost into the cave (God bless these high tides). The board never bogged in the whitewash and in fact surfed it like a wave, finding the energy rolling under the whitewater, but not getting slowed down by the turbulence.

Three people in the water paddled over and wanted to know about the board, and when I was done a guy up on the cliff went ballistic. Course he was another old guy and saw an opportunity to get on a short board and have fun. This board is such a winner, today was by far the most fun ever on the GB2.

September 14, 2009 (M)

In: 0640
Out: 0830
AT= 66F
WT= 56.9-57.5F
Wx: Low left over rain clouds and heavy fog
Tide: 3.46' Rising to 4.18' Falling
Wind: Light to increasing southwesterlies
Sea Surface: Glassy with light wind ripples after a while

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: 6.6 feet @ 12.1 WNW - 4.6 feet @ 12.5 W (295) (2-4 ft. faces)
0600: 7.2 feet @ 12.9 WNW - 3.9 feet @ 11.8 WNW (305) (2-4 ft. faces)
0700: 7.9 feet @ 12.1 WNW - 5.2 feet @ 11.1 W (305) (2-4 ft. faces)
0800: 8.5 feet @ 12.9 WNW - 4.3 feet @ 10.5 WNW (305) (2-4 ft. faces)
0900: 9.5 feet @ 12.1 WNW - 4.9 feet @ 12.5 WNW (290) (2-4 ft. faces)
1000: 9.8 feet @ 11.4 WNW - 5.6 feet @ 12.5 WNW (300) (2-4 ft. faces)
1100: 9.8 feet @ 12.9 WNW - 5.6 feet @ 11.8 WNW (295) (2-4 ft. faces)