Crawling Through the Weather Window (38th Ave)

Winter doesn't want to let us out of its grasp just yet. It rained yesterday, but with more showers and strong winds forecast for tomorrow and the next few days, I had to get in a surf today, even though it meant another lengthy drive south for decent conditions. I usually wait longer after significant rain to let the storm runoff dissipate, but this time it was less than 24 hours (hopefully enough).

Eastside Santa Cruz was a lot more crowded than Thursday, but I managed to claim some fun rides from the pack, although no super long ones like the last time. I had a spectacular wipeout on a head-high wave, when I didn't turn my board enough onto the shoulder and the wave pitched just as I started the drop. The nose tripped on the bottom of the wave and flipped me into the air, flinging me at the water so hard my check stung and I thought for a moment I might have lost a contact lens. It's interesting - and good - that I'm not so fearful of head-high waves as I used to be; the Magic board and my (somewhat) improved skills have given me more confidence. Although it seems it's still best that I don't know I'm taking off on a head-high wave.

Surfline: A new/building NW groundswell on tap today with plenty of well overhead waves across the region for the exposed locations. Wind remains mostly light with semi-clean conditions. Buoy 46012: 16.7 ft @ 16.7 sec.