Beach Break Wind Swell

I hooked up with Christian and Jeff this morning at Platty's for an early surf and to finally give back Christian's GhostBuster1. Platty's was folding over small and hard right on the beach so we decided to head south. When we got to the next lot, we ran into John (not Mel) who had a couple hundred questions about GB2. Seems he's been checkin' 'em out in the shop. John (Mel) has two new GB's in stock, a 5-10 and a 6-2. What better way to answer John's (not Mel) questions than for him to take GB2 for a surf. Christian paddled out on his five-fin bonzer, Jeff on GB1, John on GB2 and me on the 6-10 WC.

The wind stayed off it for a long time this morning so it was glassy and calm until about 1030, way long enough to get a few waves in the inconsistent but clean wind swell. Surf hts. were 2-3 ft., some a bit bigger, but the swell was pushing a lot of water and some waves would just fake you out by jacking up and then just going flat. The best waves were the ones you had to wait outside for. I was surprised and disappointed that the large swells of the last week had not moved enough sand around to create better bars than the ones that were there previous to the swells. But, I got a couple nice long lefts into the beach that were walled up and fast. Truth is though, I was a little over-gunned for the size of the waves. Never-the-less, the 6-10 is so smooth and forgiving, it makes surfing any kind of wave easier and fun. I swear, the 6-10 has perfect rocker and foil. Thank you Ward!

John got a good feel for the GB2, hopefully enough to inform him whether or not he wants to get one. John's current go to board is a 7 footer with a conventional plan shape, and like most folks, when you're lookin' at moving down to a 5-11 mini-Simmons, there's a little hesitation. But also like most folks, he was surprised by how well the board floated him, and how stable it was in the surf. I'm glad he got a chance to try my GB2 instead of wondering what they're like, and how they surf. And to his credit, John is curious enough to seriously investigate alternative wave craft...obviously he's not part of the "let the fin screw rust in place" crowd.

Just after I got out at 1030 the wind came up and started to junk up the sea surface. My crew came in shortly thereafter, including Herbie, who paddled out late on his beat up Surftech longboard. (Sorry Herbie, you gotta fix that thing!)

Overall it was another really fun day surfing with friends. The lack of quality surf was made up for by the abundant camaraderie.
November 12, 2009
In: 0845
Out: 1015
AT= 52-56F
WT= 56.5F
Wx: High streaky clouds, partly sunny
Tide: 4.3' Falling to 2.8'
Wind: Calm
Sea Surface: 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: 7.2 feet @ 12.1 NW - 4.3 feet @ 12.5 WNW (300) (2-3 ft. faces)
0800: 7.9 feet @ 11.4 NW - 5.2 feet @ 11.8 WNW (310) (2-3 ft. faces)
0900: 6.9 feet @ 12.9 NW - 3.9 feet @ 12.5 WNW (310) (2-3 ft. faces)
1000: 8.9 feet @ 12.1 NW - 3.9 feet @ 11.1 WNW (310) (2-3 ft. faces)
1100: 7.2 feet @ 11.4 NW - 4.6 feet @ 11.8 WNW (305) (2-3 ft. faces)
1200: 7.5 feet @ 12.1 NW - 4.6 feet @ 12.5 WNW (305) (2-3 ft. faces)