June 3-4-5 2010 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
Hadn't been out on my laydown paddlers in a while and with the small swell conditions thought I'd hit the beaches with the 7-0 Freeline Ghostbuster. I was on it at 0645, no one but me and the dolphins, seals,bait fish and numerous flying and floating creatures in the food chain. It was small but dazzlingly glassy on this mild, clear and flawlessly clean dawn patrol. A big net fishing boat outta MoCo was pulling in it's nets with a hundred thousand sea gulls and pelicans harassing the humans for their fair share. Surfed for an hour fifteen in beachie for sure, but with a few fast left hand peelers making it fun.
Friday morning I got on it late (0745) and there were already four in the line-up. That's what I get for being lazy. The surf was a bit bigger and yesterday's clear morning had turned to fog. It seemed like the shape wasn't as clean as yesterday too, but there were still fun waves to be had. A westerly swell generated from another late season north pacific storm was on the rise, putting up waves in the waist to chest high range. Another fun morning on the 7-0 Ghostbuster.
Saturday morning had it all, clear and bright early morning sunshine segueing into a skinny but thick sleeve of fog obscuring the land only 200 feet away, but then burning off to unwrap another jewel of a day. Since the swell had continued to come up I thought I'd surf the 5-11 Ghostbuster miniSim. I brought along the 7-0 just in case I wanted something a little bigger. Good thing too because after an hour and nearly a dozen waves, my back was telling me to switch out my board or I'd be paying the price. This I did and my wave count about doubled. It's amazing what an extra 12" of surfboard will do for your wave count. Even though the surf had gone from knee high to chest high, overall shape held up pretty well with the biggest sets closing out the usual take-off spot. I surfed for two hours with just a couple folks out, everyone getting lot's of waves. I was surprised at how long it took for the water to fill up with surfers, it being a Summer time school's out Saturday and all. But, my good fortune. Back in the lot I ran into Melissa and Mel, friends of Priscilla and Nancy. They were just heading into the water with their longboards and were stoked. How could they not be on a day like today?
I haven't surfed fun beachies in summer-like conditions for three days in a row in a couple years. The La Nina drought was such a drag. I'm so glad we were gifted with a moderate El Nino for the winter. It looks like we're back into a semi-La Nina pattern again, but the El Nino effects are still hanging on. Lot's of south swell coming up from the southern hemi, and the NPAC refuses to go flat out comatose, although that has to be coming soon. In the meantime the swells are supposed to drop off a little tomorrow and maybe pick up again on Monday, and the great weather is looking like it will hold all week. This is good news for surfers and beach rats alike.
Srfnff
January 9, 2012 Photo: J. Chandler
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Deep Water South Ground Swell; Conditions Clean Up
Monday May 24, 2005
After waiting and watching for what seemed like days; after tracking and checking the buoys
and forecasts ten times a day, hoping; the deep water south swell that has been blown to bits by Spring winds in SoCal and here over the weekend, made landfall today in our corner of the universe. More good news: the powerful northerly winds that had made an insane asylum of whitecaps on the ocean's surface, took a break.
I could have surfed yesterday, Sunday, but a combination of family obligations, sloth and laziness, and lot's of wind along with a certain loathing for over-populated weekend surf days kept me dry. There were waves for sure, not south swell waves, but hacked up nearshore windswell on top of hacked up nearshore windswell. Not great, but definitely surfable. Add in the crowd factor though and I was over it before I even started.
I paddled out this morning and was headed to Sarge's at 0545 in inky gray overcast that looked like rain. Actually, it already had rained. My car was damp with light rain when I loaded up at 0h-dark-thirty. Good thought I, if anything wind will be light from the south. I was half right. Wind was light and offshore. Dig it. The usual suspects were on it at first light making the line-up jump from zero to five in about two minutes time. No use making it six, I'll head for Yellow House...nobody there.
Yellow's was about perfect today for SUP surfing. Smaller than just about everywhere else, it was consistently 2-4 feet all morning before the tide rendered backwash put too much bump on the wave faces. Since a SUP can catch practically any
wave, especially one that loses energy mid-slide, it was the perfect board for an insane morning of super fun, consistent wave riding. Wave count was off the charts. This swell was coming in a bit too steep to make it big, but the 14-18 second periods were perfect for putting up 7-9 wave sets on a very regular basis, even for a south swell. The wind swell was practically non-existent, therefore every wave had true southerly energy.
Yellow's loves a big west swell, and any form of real energy south. Most often we only see the wrap around energy that comes in from the northwest, and it rapidly loses size and punch as it makes it's way down reef from the point to Chinese Cove. Northerly waves are telegraphed from upcoast to downcoast in an orderly fashion, you know when they're coming. But a south will spread that energy out much more evenly, so if you see a set coming at a spot up-reef, get ready to rumble 'cause you're up to bat. And the wave surfs differently too.
Northerly waves will rise up at the peak and give you a line to ride before backing off into a hole mid-bay. If the waves have some size, you can negotiate this falling away (especially with a paddle) and stroke into the next section, heading to the beach. But today's southerly waves (especially with all the sand filling in over the reef) put up a fast line into that same soft spot with the option of leaving enough wave to throw a 180 cutback, riding back into the reforming peak before coming around for a fast grind into and through the beachbreak section. That is new for the Summer and makes the wave at least a 7 on a scale of 10, instead of a 5.
I paddled back out time and again through a lot of unridden waves, giving praise and flushed with the satisfaction of another good ride under my belt, and just enjoying the view. The south is backing down and we might get one more good (but smaller) day before it's gone for good. I was tired after two hours and called it a day. I ran some errands apres surf and checked out the beach replenishment action in SeaTown before heading home. I couldn't resist circling back to the scene of the fun. It was still cranking.
Tuesday May 25, 2010
This morning's swell was on the decline with wave heights 1/3 to 1/2 of yesterday's. Yellows
wasn't working at all in spite of the sub-one foot tide. But there were still some waves left in the dead glassy morning gloom and light rain.
The regulars were home in bed, sleeping it off after gorging on yesterday's wave feast. I paddled into some small breakers at Sarge's and surfed for about a half hour before Priscilla and Nancy paddled out on their longboards. We traded waves for a bit longer before I was finally drawn down to GDubs, which had been looking a little bigger and somewhat more consistent with only one longboarder out.
GDubs is kelp infested to the max. I was surprised to see that the surfer in the water was Paul. I haven't seen him practically all Winter. We chit-chatted, taking turns for another thirty minutes before one other shortboarder came out and Paul called it a morning. He definitely scored the dawn patrol, catching lot's of fun, crisp little runners by himself for an hour and a half.
I got some good ones, fast peelers on the inside sections breaking in the shallows, and the south hung in there the whole session, putting up decent but small southern hemi energy. The high line was the call, any low line ran you aground in the kelp carpet. It finally got too crowded for the quantity and quality of surf after three more shortboarders entered the line-up so I headed back to Sarge's for the take out.
Dave was out on his custom 10-4 SUP. He's a local shaper/manufacturer with a facility in Watsontown, deep in the heart of ag-central. Lot's of guys ride his boards. Kirk works out of his shop and will be fine tuning my next custom SUP down there tomorrow morning. It should be fun with a full report to follow after my first test ride.
We were fortunate to get this little southie the last couple days. Even though it was short lived, it was well appreciated. Supposedly the SPAC is acting up, but long range doesn't look too positive as of this writing. So...Pray for Surf!
After waiting and watching for what seemed like days; after tracking and checking the buoys
and forecasts ten times a day, hoping; the deep water south swell that has been blown to bits by Spring winds in SoCal and here over the weekend, made landfall today in our corner of the universe. More good news: the powerful northerly winds that had made an insane asylum of whitecaps on the ocean's surface, took a break.I could have surfed yesterday, Sunday, but a combination of family obligations, sloth and laziness, and lot's of wind along with a certain loathing for over-populated weekend surf days kept me dry. There were waves for sure, not south swell waves, but hacked up nearshore windswell on top of hacked up nearshore windswell. Not great, but definitely surfable. Add in the crowd factor though and I was over it before I even started.
I paddled out this morning and was headed to Sarge's at 0545 in inky gray overcast that looked like rain. Actually, it already had rained. My car was damp with light rain when I loaded up at 0h-dark-thirty. Good thought I, if anything wind will be light from the south. I was half right. Wind was light and offshore. Dig it. The usual suspects were on it at first light making the line-up jump from zero to five in about two minutes time. No use making it six, I'll head for Yellow House...nobody there.
Yellow's was about perfect today for SUP surfing. Smaller than just about everywhere else, it was consistently 2-4 feet all morning before the tide rendered backwash put too much bump on the wave faces. Since a SUP can catch practically any
wave, especially one that loses energy mid-slide, it was the perfect board for an insane morning of super fun, consistent wave riding. Wave count was off the charts. This swell was coming in a bit too steep to make it big, but the 14-18 second periods were perfect for putting up 7-9 wave sets on a very regular basis, even for a south swell. The wind swell was practically non-existent, therefore every wave had true southerly energy.Yellow's loves a big west swell, and any form of real energy south. Most often we only see the wrap around energy that comes in from the northwest, and it rapidly loses size and punch as it makes it's way down reef from the point to Chinese Cove. Northerly waves are telegraphed from upcoast to downcoast in an orderly fashion, you know when they're coming. But a south will spread that energy out much more evenly, so if you see a set coming at a spot up-reef, get ready to rumble 'cause you're up to bat. And the wave surfs differently too.
Northerly waves will rise up at the peak and give you a line to ride before backing off into a hole mid-bay. If the waves have some size, you can negotiate this falling away (especially with a paddle) and stroke into the next section, heading to the beach. But today's southerly waves (especially with all the sand filling in over the reef) put up a fast line into that same soft spot with the option of leaving enough wave to throw a 180 cutback, riding back into the reforming peak before coming around for a fast grind into and through the beachbreak section. That is new for the Summer and makes the wave at least a 7 on a scale of 10, instead of a 5.
I paddled back out time and again through a lot of unridden waves, giving praise and flushed with the satisfaction of another good ride under my belt, and just enjoying the view. The south is backing down and we might get one more good (but smaller) day before it's gone for good. I was tired after two hours and called it a day. I ran some errands apres surf and checked out the beach replenishment action in SeaTown before heading home. I couldn't resist circling back to the scene of the fun. It was still cranking.
Tuesday May 25, 2010
This morning's swell was on the decline with wave heights 1/3 to 1/2 of yesterday's. Yellows
wasn't working at all in spite of the sub-one foot tide. But there were still some waves left in the dead glassy morning gloom and light rain.The regulars were home in bed, sleeping it off after gorging on yesterday's wave feast. I paddled into some small breakers at Sarge's and surfed for about a half hour before Priscilla and Nancy paddled out on their longboards. We traded waves for a bit longer before I was finally drawn down to GDubs, which had been looking a little bigger and somewhat more consistent with only one longboarder out.
GDubs is kelp infested to the max. I was surprised to see that the surfer in the water was Paul. I haven't seen him practically all Winter. We chit-chatted, taking turns for another thirty minutes before one other shortboarder came out and Paul called it a morning. He definitely scored the dawn patrol, catching lot's of fun, crisp little runners by himself for an hour and a half.
I got some good ones, fast peelers on the inside sections breaking in the shallows, and the south hung in there the whole session, putting up decent but small southern hemi energy. The high line was the call, any low line ran you aground in the kelp carpet. It finally got too crowded for the quantity and quality of surf after three more shortboarders entered the line-up so I headed back to Sarge's for the take out.
Dave was out on his custom 10-4 SUP. He's a local shaper/manufacturer with a facility in Watsontown, deep in the heart of ag-central. Lot's of guys ride his boards. Kirk works out of his shop and will be fine tuning my next custom SUP down there tomorrow morning. It should be fun with a full report to follow after my first test ride.
We were fortunate to get this little southie the last couple days. Even though it was short lived, it was well appreciated. Supposedly the SPAC is acting up, but long range doesn't look too positive as of this writing. So...Pray for Surf!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Spring In Full Swing With Winter Hangin' On
In the last two weeks Spring, has shown the full array of Spring-like weather. Since my last post we've seen everything from May Gray/June Gloom fog with onshore winds, to bright and clear skies with chilly to mild temps. Two things have been consistent though, the lack of surf and the 
fact that Winter just doesn't seem to want to let go, even though El Nino is supposedly dead and gone.
With a few days excepted, May has been unseasonably cool, with more rain than is usual. No complaints here, in fact, I like it...but it does seem a little weird. In my neighborhood everyone cleared out the tall grass, only to have to do it again (and again) due to the late season rains which caused two additional late season crops. And as of this writing the NWS is calling for more precip next week. But I'd rather have it this way any day compared to the last three years of La Nina drought.
While our surfing brothers and sisters in SoCal have been enjoying a steady stream of mostly consistent South Pacific swells, those same southies are not poking their pointy little heads into our ready and waiting Bay. Even the wind swells have been so steeply angled from the north, not a lot in the way of good surf has graced our shores. That may be changing rapidly as a double shot of better aimed and more powerful south swell is on it's way. Even the north wind, which is so typical in Spring, has ramped up again, so we should see something in the way of northwest swell during the next few days and into next work week.
So even though we've lost El Nino, we still may enjoy the residual effects from the SPAC of increased activity this Summer. Hope so!
fact that Winter just doesn't seem to want to let go, even though El Nino is supposedly dead and gone.With a few days excepted, May has been unseasonably cool, with more rain than is usual. No complaints here, in fact, I like it...but it does seem a little weird. In my neighborhood everyone cleared out the tall grass, only to have to do it again (and again) due to the late season rains which caused two additional late season crops. And as of this writing the NWS is calling for more precip next week. But I'd rather have it this way any day compared to the last three years of La Nina drought.
While our surfing brothers and sisters in SoCal have been enjoying a steady stream of mostly consistent South Pacific swells, those same southies are not poking their pointy little heads into our ready and waiting Bay. Even the wind swells have been so steeply angled from the north, not a lot in the way of good surf has graced our shores. That may be changing rapidly as a double shot of better aimed and more powerful south swell is on it's way. Even the north wind, which is so typical in Spring, has ramped up again, so we should see something in the way of northwest swell during the next few days and into next work week.
So even though we've lost El Nino, we still may enjoy the residual effects from the SPAC of increased activity this Summer. Hope so!
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