Morning Shortboard; Afternoon SUP

Got in the water around 0815 at Rey-Reys on the 6'8". Small wind swell and a rising tide made for a few fun rides into the backwash coming off the sloping beach. Still getting used to the 6'8" and tend to be very heavy footed, especially coming off the SUP. Interesting transition, a study in sensitivity. Wind was light, mostly glassy conditions, water cold.

Paddle surfed Sarges and Gdubs on a low tide rising in the afternoon. Weather was warm and sunny so I threw on the spring suit, boardshorts, long sleeve rashie, new Dakine sun protection hat and dark glasses. Got in the water around 3:45PM and was warm and toasty until about an hour later and a couple dunkings. Made me wish I had a full wettie on. But I do love paddle surfing in the lightweight ensemble. It feels so good!

Hat is great but if you're going to wipeout the chin strap needs to be tight or it will be wiped off your head. The verdict on the dark glasses is that they are really nice to have in order to shade the eyes. But are a hassle when they get wet, especially if the water is really cold. Not only can't you clear the water drops off the inside and outside of the lenses very well, the cold water condenses on the inside of the lens next to your warm skin. This fogs the lenses and makes things even worse in terms of visibility. I may try some "Fog Off" but it seems like more hassle than it's worth. So...for paddling, glasses good; for surfing, glasses not so good.

Met a SUPer out at Gdubs who was from Oregon via New Hampshire and Hawaii. Then talked with a longboarder from Seattle who was on his way down to SD to talk with Joe Blair about a new performance SUP. Small world.

More cold weather and strong winds are on tap for this weekend. Small craft warnings have been posted for northerly winds. A Canadian cold front is moving through, lowering temps and bringing cloud cover. Good news is that the wind swell will increase wave size if conditions don't go down the tubes. At this writing (0830 Friday April 18) local winds are already out of the southeast...a bad sign.
April 17, 2008 (Th)
In: 0815 and 1545
Out: 0940 and 1715
AT= 50 - 80 degrees
WT= 52 degrees at the farshore buoy
Wx: Clear, hot and sunny with offshore fog moving in
Tide: 3.8 to 4.2 Rising; and 0.8 Rising to 1.9
Wind: Calm to light offshore
Sea Surface: Glassy with a slight roll
Buoy: NWS
Buoy delivering sporadic data:
0800: 6.2 feet @ 12 seconds WNW
0900: 6.6 feet @ 9.1 seconds NW
1000: 6.6 feet @ 10.8 seconds WNW
-----------------------------
1500: 5.9 feet @ 10.8 seconds NW
1600: 6.6 feet @ 10.8 seconds NW
1800: 5.9 feet @ 11.4 seconds NW
Bob Miller Bluecoil Devolution 6'8" DT5
Fin set-up: Future Quads: Scimitar 451's
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with Bluecoil 5.5" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Sand bars
CDIP: 4.8 feet at 11 seconds from 310 degrees and 1.7 feet at 17 seconds from 175 degrees and
5.5 feet at 9 seconds from 310 degrees and 0.9 feet at 17 seconds from 180 degrees

Big Winds Blow Offshore

The big story the last couple days are the high winds and pressure gradients. As the blustery northwest winds rage down coast, they bounce over the mountains and blow straight into the faces of the waves. Too bad there isn't much in the way of waves to get face sprayed by.

The local wind swell in the water is better than I expected actually. I surfed Sarges and GDubs on a lowering tide mid-morning with Sam, Pricscilla, Michael and Al. Everyone got a lot of waves even though the waits were sometimes kinda long. Wave quality got better as the tide lowered, and the gusty offshores held some faces and walls up much longer than usual. As the tide dropped those little inside zippers were breaking in about a foot of water. Kelp got me a couple times but with the thruster set-up it's not bad at all.
April 15, 2008 (Tu)
In: 1020
Out: 1235
AT= 56 - 63 degrees
WT= 51.6 degrees at the farshore buoy
Wx: Clear, sunny and breezy
Tide: 3.2 Falling to .71
Wind: NW to NE and back at 3 to 12 mph
Sea Surface: Mostly glassy in the kelp to mild wind texturing in the spaces
Buoy: NWS
Sporadic buoy data
0800: 7.2 feet @ 12.1 WNW
1100: 6.2 feet @ 12.1 seconds WNW
1200: 6.2 feet @ 12.1 seconds WNW
1100: 7.2 feet @ 12.1 NW
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with Bluecoil 5.5" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
CDIP: 6.2 feet at 11 seconds from 305 degrees and 1.1 feet at 12 seconds from 195 degrees

What Goes Up; Must Come Down (Freefall That Is)

Mother Nature has withdrawn her three day preview of heaven, and plunged we mortals back to our earthly reality. Fog covers the rock reef points and sandy beaches while a niggling, sniping, bone chilling southeast wind makes a small, irritating mess of the ocean's surface. Temps have taken their cue from the dotcom and mortgage busts, literally dropping through the floor. While Saturday and Sunday's high's were in the 80's, today's forecast is for the 50's.

West-northwesterly winds have turned back onshore with the highest SFO-SAC gradient seen this month...a whopping 5mb. Winds are projected to clear out the low clouds and fog and bring cold temps. There's talk of a frost advisory for Tuesday night.

Surf is in the small range with the "always gets waves" spots showing some rideable peaks and walls on occasion.

Gone for now is the leisurely and luxuriously warm paddle and surf of yesterday but, Hope Springs Eternal. For we who love warmth, in this wrong latitude tropical mime, what makes these recent occurrences so special is that they just don't happen very often. Their rareness is what makes the experience so extraordinary, notable and worthy of appreciation. It is what keeps us chasing our tail, looking for perfection that is always flawed, and always fleeting. Chasing the tropical dream to all corners of the earth.

We await the next coming.

Dual Shortboard/SUP Session

Weather as good as it gets! High yesterday of 82 degrees, today the mercury is pegged at 88. Light offshores have quelled the ocean upwelling. Ocean temps are up three degrees over a few days ago. The only downside...very small surf! There is a weak combo swell in the water that isn't doing much in providing good surfable waves. Where it's breaking size is waist high.

The NPAC storm track has effectively shut down. Rumor has it (if you're not checking this out on a daily basis then you're going to miss some good waves this summer) that the mostly dormant SPAC is waking up with a nice storm headed north. Since a high pressure ridge has moved in over CA the local winds that produce local waves has shifted in favor of the warm offshores. Thus, warmer ocean temps and much smaller waves.

I paddled out on the 6'8" DT5 at Rey-Reys for a few super glassy, shore dumpers at 0933. The board works great, catches waves easily, and wants to pull in and run even when there's no shoulder to do it on.

Since I've started SUPing I'm totally digging the no wax environment. I put clear grip on the nose of my SUP (and it works great) where there is no deck pad. I thought I could do it on the whole 6'8" shortboard. Wrong! Not sticky enough. It works good on the nose of the SUP 'cause you're only up there for a few seconds, and not doing much but standing there...trying to look cool. But on the shortboard you're applying pressure and torque to the board surface and there just isn't enough friction to get a good grip with your feet. My wetsuit doesn't stick to it very well either. The package of four clear grip sheets (10" X 18.5") only covered from the tail to about midships which was OK for the tail (I don't like traction pads) but stopped short of where it needed to go under my chest to complete the coverage. So I waxed the rest. This actually gave me a good comparison of the two, and the clear grip just doesn't have the stickiness needed. So...back to wax for the shortboard.

I surfed the shorty for about an hour, got out and headed over to Platty's for a paddle and surf on the SUP. The weekend crowd was thick and festive with kids, bbq's, footballs and surf schools everywhere. The weather was so nice, and the sea surface so glassy and smooth I didn't want to get out. I paddled down to the big resort (two-mile round trip), surfing a few small ones at The Wall and in between before calling it a perfect day (except for the surf).
April 12, 2008 (Sa)
In: 0933 and 1112
Out: 1040 and 1225
AT= 67 - 81 degrees
WT= 54 degrees at the farshore buoy
Wx: Clear, hot and sunny
Tide: 0.26 Falling to -0.34 feet Rising
Wind: Calm to light offshore
Sea Surface: Glassy with a slight roll
Buoy: NWS
0900: 3.9 feet @ 11.4 seconds NW
1000: 3.6 feet @ 14.8 seconds S
1100: 3.9 feet @ 11.4 seconds NW
1200: 3.6 feet @ 14.8 seconds S
Bob Miller Bluecoil Devolution 6'8" DT5
Fin set-up: Future Quads: Scimitar 451's
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with Bluecoil 5.5" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Sand bars
CDIP: 2.5 feet at 10 seconds from 310 degrees and 1.4 feet at 14 seconds from 190 degrees