Go Green! A Few Days of Waves

Updated Sunday Morning

I didn't have time after yesterday's SUP surf and then all the Saturday chores that needed doing to post the pics and data from the session. Long story short...after I got up and did the initial quick post (I wasn't planning to surf on Saturday), I talked myself into going out. The stats just looked too good, and it looked like it might be as good as it is going to get for the next week or so, especially from the wind swell.

Paddled out at Sarge's at 0930, bound for Prow Point. Surfed there alone for 45 minutes before Art joined me for another 45. Mostly knee/waist high and slow, but every once in a while a zippy little long wall would come through and take us from Prow to Apt. House Point, a good 100 yard ride.

After an hour and a half I was ready to head in for the day. Sarge's had the better waves and was looking good but on Saturday's (especially) I try and avoid the crowds and just make one less person in the line-up. So I headed to the Staircase Bowl off the main peak to catch a couple insiders before heading in. Waves were consistent and fun, the wind swell putting up solid waist to chest high sets of three to five waves each. Joanna was out and getting some nice rides. I got a decent sequence of her on the run...one eye on the surfer, the other eye on the incoming section.

I got four or five waves and decided to head over to Middles for one last wave. As I was paddling there a nice set loomed up on the horizon. I took the third of what looked like five and made a three or four paddle take-off into a soft head high peak that put up a lazy shoulder, perfect for casual climbing and dropping before forming up at the Staircase Bowl. I decided this one was makeable if I trimmed up right. So I make the adjustments and just screamed through the section. I was slotted just right, staying mini-seconds ahead of the falling lip in the power line. Near the end of the section the tail did a little jig but the fins held and I finished the ride way on the inside. Done for the day and what a great way to exit!

Did I say..."Life is Good!?"
June 5, 2008 (Th)
In: 0930
Out: 1145
AT= 58 to 59 degrees
WT= 51 degrees at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Sunny with clear to blue skies
Tide: -0.88 Rising to 1.27
Wind: SSE at 3-5 mph
Sea Surface: Mostly very light wind rippling
Buoy: NWS
0400: 11.8 feet @ 9.1 NW
0500: 10.5 feet @ 12.1 NW
0700: 12.1 feet @ 11.4 NW
0800: 12.1 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: 10.9 feet at 12 seconds from 325 degrees and .5 feet at 20 seconds from 175 degrees

First Post on Saturday Morning
The well forecast wind swell arrived early this morning putting up double size and period digits, and meeting the prognostications of the last few days. The Wave Watch III animation chart shows the wind swell hugging the Cali coast. This swell will probably hang around into the early work week. What the WW3 model didn't show (at least I couldn't see it) was the south swell that some are calling for. I'll just have to keep my eye on all the charts and websites and see if this southie is going to tip it's hand and/or make it in here.

Air and water temps are still chilly this season. Air this morning in C-Town was a crisp 43 degrees at first light, water is still down in the feet numbing low 50's, hitting the 50 degree mark early this morning. Mark Sponsler over at Stormsurf is watching ocean currents and temps warm up and is putting up a running commentary re the situation. Things might be changing from the current La Nina over to a warmer and more surf productive El Nino condition. Something to watch for periodically on the Pacific Forecast page.

Buoy: NWS
0400: 11.8 feet @ 9.1 NW
0500: 10.5 feet @ 12.1 NW
0700: 12.1 feet @ 11.4 NW
0800: 12.1 feet @ 12.1 NW

SUPsplosion

I remember when I first heard about stand up paddle surfing. I read a post on Swaylocks about Laird paddling into the lineup at Malibu on a stand up with an American flag flying off his paddle. That was 2003. In the following years, one at a time, people were paddling around my area. They were the aberration. Last September I decided to give it a try because it looked challenging, different and I'd heard it was a great core workout. The perfect exercise for someone with my history of back injuries to avoid medications, surgery and most importantly...to stay surfing.

Today the spread of stand up is moving like wild fire. This morning's session (I SUP surfed for four hours, from 0630 to 1030) saw no less than eleven people out on SUP's during the course of the session. Over half of those folks were first-timers. As we move into summer, and the nicer weather we'll see that the SUPsplosion has arrived.

It will be up to those of us who are already SUP surfing, to educate the newcomers as to the proper etiquette in the line-up for those who want to SUP paddle and surf. There is (and always has been) resistance to change, especially among surfers. Congested surf spots with tight take-off zones should be avoided by any but the most expert and proficient SUP surfers (I'm thinking pro's only here). Extra caution and surfing with aloha must be exercised when surfing anywhere on a SUP. "Give away" more waves than you take should be the rule. Because there is so much more to SUPing than just surfing, it's not just the waves. Take a paddle up coast. Surf four or five different spots, don't monopolize any one break. Make friends, call out sets, if there are too many people in the line-up, move on. Hopefully people will use good judgement and there will be room for all of us to share the ocean and appreciate it together.

Thus endeth the Sermon.

Paddled out early into a really low tide. The little windswell was putting up close-out sections all up and down the many reef breaks. I surfed Batrays and got a ton of small ankle biters that mostly closed, but every once in a while there was a long wall and fast section that held up. John paddled over after about an hour and we surfed there for a while before moving down to the area of Sarge's. I caught a few more here and there before paddling out into the kelp beds and ocean with Mash on the Mahi I, far past the line-up just to take a walk on the water out in the deep. Visibility was 15-20 feet. The ocean surface was lotion smooth. Andy wanted to check the bottom inside the lagoon so we paddled in through the surf line to check it out. He's crazed for fishing off his SUP and hooked up a big halibut last eveining. He wants more. After that I paddled over to GDubs but the tide was still too low and the Kelp Fiesta was in full party mode. They all wanted a piece of me.

Around 0900 the rising tide and the wind swell (which has jumped up considerably compared to yesterday and the few previous days) conspired to dish up an hour's worth of sweet and ridable ola's. By that time everyone was bailing out for work except me and two longboard pronies. It was the icing on the cake of a great morning.

The surge in the wind swell is forecast to maintain through the weekend perhaps aided by a southie that's supposedly heading our way. Dawn patrol even if the tide will be too low.
June 5, 2008 (Th)
In: 0630
Out: 1030
AT= 46 to 62 degrees
WT= 51-52 degrees at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Partly foggy to clearing to blue skies
Tide: -1.22 Falling to -1.68, Rising to 0.6
Wind: Calm to SW at 4 mph
Sea Surface: Glassy to light wind rippling
Buoy: NWS
0600: 6.7 feet @ 8.3 NW
0700: 6.2 feet @ 9.1 NW
1100: 5.6 feet @ 9.1 NW
1200: 4.9 feet @ 8.3 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: 3.7 feet at 8 seconds from 320 degrees and .8 feet at 17 seconds from 195 degrees

SUP Conference

Reminiscent of a reincarnation of the 1930's old time surf club, members of the SUP brotherhood posed for a group shot before heading out for a paddle and surf search early today in the kelpy glass of a low tide morning. Waves were almost nonentities and the dawn patrol hour was devoted to paddling, talking story, ribbings, tall tales and the overall giddiness of grown men too stubborn to give in to a form of adulthood that leaves no room for unbridled exuberance.

One of the funnest things about paddling out in conference format is that everyone gets to try each other's boards. And since everyone had a different board, we all spent a lot of time on "new" boards. I got to try Mash's Tim Stamps Mahi I again (which I haven't been on in a while). Very stable and solid under the feet and easy to ride, smooth and loose. I tried Brett's Fury, a 10'3" molded production model. With a diamond tail, 60/40 rails and a hefty helping of nose rocker it paddled well but was wobbly side to side. I thought it would be looser in the small waves we eventually found, but it didn't start to perform until a more juicy wave was encountered. Perhaps not a great small wave board but would start to shine in bigger surf.

Buzz blew by on his open ocean racer, a custom Angulo that was paddled in the Quicksilver Molokai to Oahu Race last year. A beautiful board with foot rudder steering and a long, sleek fast outline. Not a surfing machine, a paddling machine. As the regular laydown surfboard market continues contracting in a recessionary economy, stand up paddleboarding looks like a bright spot for growth as new models are created, and new events are planned for this new, fast growing sport.

Evidence of this growth and nascent acceptance in the established surfing community can be found by checking out the First Annual Surftech SUP Showdown held in conjunction with the 24th annual Santa Cruz Long Board Union Memorial Day Surf Contest, and the recently completed First Annual Race for the Reef Fundraiser on Oahu. As more of these events are promoted, the visibility of SUP paddling and surfing will broaden. It is my humble opinion that the real market for SUP's isn't surfing. It will be flat water paddling and racing...in that order.

We janitors finished our morning by paddling a mile down to the C-Town reefs where we greeted the lone laydown longboarder with hoots and hollers. He was less than amused until we reassured him that we weren't there to poach any of his waves, and that we would call out the sets and set waves for him. By the time we left he was making plans to contact at least one of us so he could try out this stand up paddleboard thing. Fun, like the flu, is contagious, no?

Surf and paddle with aloha!
June 3, 2008 (Tu)
In: 0700
Out: 1000
AT= 49 to 61 degrees
WT= 53 degrees at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Partly cloudy
Tide: -0.59 Rising to 2.9
Wind: Calm to 6 mph SW
Sea Surface: Glassy to light wind rippling
Buoy: NWS
0700: 3.3 feet @ 6.2 NW
0900: 3.3 feet @ 5.9 NW
1000: 2.6 feet @ 5.9 NW
1100: 2.6 feet @ 5.6 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: 0.6 feet at 9 seconds from 275 degrees and 1.2 feet at 14 seconds from 220 degrees

South Fails To Show

I woke up at 4AM yesterday morning to get ready to paddle out at first light for a few fun ones before class. It never happened...the waves that is.

For all intents and purposes, the south swell that I thought was going to deliver some small but fun waves, never materialized. Even though there was (and continues to be) a steady drumbeat of swell showing 1 feet @ 13 - 15 seconds SW on the nearshore buoy, the farshore buoy (which is still sporadic in it's output) has shown only one record of 3.6 feet at 16 seconds SSW in the last 24 hours. The Harvest Buoy has been showing steady one to two feet at 14 - 16 seconds S at each data point for the last 24 hours.

For now my thought is that there just isn't enough energy for the swell to make waves. Why would it show on the nearshore buoy which is more sheltered than the farshore buoy? I don't know. But this is what makes blogging and journaling interesting and fun...something to work on.

Perhaps, something will show later today or better yet, early tomorrow. I like anticipation.

Today marks the start of "meteorological" summer. For all sorts of other interesting facts about the weather click here...