Putting the Dawn in Dawn Patrol (Cowells)

My plan for this morning was to be up at 4 and in the water in SC by 5:45. I was running a few minutes behind, but caught the first wave of many at 6 am.

Cowells was in fine form nearing a negative low tide, with regular waist- to chest-high waves and no wind. The Lane looked to be working nicely too, but I wasn't in the mood to compete for waves with hotshot shortboarders. And Cowells turned out to be mega-fun, with plenty of waves to go around. The crowd filled in as dawn became morning, and I sat inside of the outer peak to get more of the smaller waves all to myself. (Selfish, I know, but I only enjoy party waves when they're shared with friends.) I've noticed I'm not turning enough onto the face on my backside, so I decided to challenge myself to see how far I could stay on each wave, as measured by distance traveled along the shore. A few times I extended the ride quite a ways toward the wharf by linking to a inside reform.

When the crowd thickened to a heavy peppering of black wetsuits on the main peaks, I moved to a break closer to the beach with only two guys on it. My arms were getting tired by then anyway; it's a long paddle back to the lineup after a long ride, and I had a lot of long rides. The waves were a little steeper there, making for some fun drops and more face time. Stoked!

Surfline: Knee to chest high, fair conditions. Clean, peaky lines with some slow but open and workable shoulders under hazy, overcast skies with light winds. Mix of modest SW groundswell and NW wind/groundswell wrap is providing fun zone surf in the knee-waist-chest zone range at the better breaks through town today. Top exposed spots are even pulling in some shoulder high sets. Winds are light and the surf should only improve a little on the morning tide push. Buoy 46012: NW 6.2 ft @ 12.9 sec.