WNW Ground Swell Delivers Plenty Waves

The current WNW NPAC swell peaked last night around midnight, but there were still plenty of waves to ride today. The surf was consistent everywhere, and it was biggest up at the top, with set waves regularly going double overhead. Sunday crowds made things a bit scary at the upper reefs which were packed with just about every ability level of surfer, but seemed to be most heavily populated by intermediates. For me, it's just downright dangerous when the waves are big, and it's uber-crowded. Even when you get a good wave you have to dodge all the people sitting inside as you try to have "fun" carving the face. As I snapped pics after my session I swear it looked like there were two people taking every peak at Main. Even though we are it, everyone hates a crowd.

I paddled out dawn patrol on the Angulo SUP at Sarges and surfed and paddled from there all the way up to the point at various locations, moving around and trying to stay where the crowd wasn't. That proved to be an arduous task. Kirk was out again on his custom L41 EPS SUP. Got some dims today. At 210 lbs. he is surfing a performance SUP that's 10' X 4.5 X 23.5. Nice board.

I was out for a couple hours, did a multi-mile paddle, and got plenty of waves. The weather is giving us a sneak preview of Winter with a cold front moving through that dropped a small amount of rain on us last night. The sky was filled with dark gray rain clouds and it looked a lot more ominous at times than it actually was. Wind was up early out of the SW but never really got too bad. It didn't adversely affect the waves. I'd of taken twice as much wind and half the crowd if I could have. No complaints though, it is what it is and waves were definitely the real deal. Nice to have some ground swell back in the house.

September 13, 2009 (Sa)

In: 0640
Out: 0915
AT= 57F to 60F
WT= 56.5F to 57.5
Wx: Rain clouds and overcast
Tide: 3.6' Rising to 4.2' Falling to 4.0'
Wind: Light from the southwest then turning southeasterly and variable
Sea Surface: Mostly glassy with backwash bump

10-0 Angulo EPS/Epoxy Custom SUP with Infinity Ottertail carbon fiber paddleFin set-up: Thruster with K2D2 4.75" center fin (fourth mark up from back) and RFC Speedwings
Bathymetry: Rock reefs 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: 8.9 feet @ 16 WNW - 6.9 feet @ 15.4 W (290) (4-6 ft. faces)
0600: 9.2 feet @ 14.8 NW - 6.6 feet @ 11.8 WNW (290) (3-5 ft. faces)
0700: 8.9 feet @ 14.8 WNW - 7.2 feet @ 15.4 W (295) (4-6 ft. faces)
0800: 9.2 feet @ 14.8 WNW - 6.2 feet @ 15.4 W (300) (3-5 ft. faces)
0900: 8.9 feet @ 14.8 W - 7.5 feet @ 14.3 W (295) (4-6 ft. faces)
1000: 8.9 feet @ 14.8 W - 6.2 feet @ 14.3 W (295) (4-6 ft. faces)
1100: 8.9 feet @ 14.8 W - 6.2 feet @ 14.3 WNW (295) (4-6 ft. faces)