Gray Drizzly Dawn (Cowells)

I figured Cowells would be decent on the low tide early this morning. Trouble is, a whole lot of other people figured the same thing. When I drove past in the dim pre-dawn light, I could already see a small clot of surfers in the water. By the time I'd suited up and paddled out, they numbered two dozen, and within half an hour the pack had swollen to more than 40. Why so many folks came out in the chilly misty dawn is a mystery. There were more waves to go around yesterday afternoon at 38th Ave, and it was warm and sunny.

I sat on the inside and took scraps discarded by the crowd, mostly rights with a few lefts, a lot of them gutless waves that couldn't hold up to the beach. I partook of one better party wave with five others, riding in sync behind the rightmost surfer, and congratulated the guy next to me when he managed to stay up on it longer than the rest of us (and just a bit farther than me).

Surfline: Knee to waist high, poor to fair conditions. Mostly clean, workable little lines for the small wave gear. SSW-S (180-200) swell fades through the day as some small NW windswell energy mixes in. Better breaks are good for knee-waist-chest high surf, as top exposures are in the shoulder-head high+ zone, with some occasional sets running slightly overhead. Conditions are mostly clean with light winds early and a low incoming tide. Buoy 46012:  (Wave) SWELL: 4.6 ft at 14.8 s S / WIND WAVE: 8.5 ft at 9.1 s NW / WVHT: 9.5 ft / APD: 6.7 s / MWD: 320° / (Met) WSPD: 19 kts / GST: 23 kts / WDIR: 310.0° / ATMP: 56.1° F / WTMP: 56.8° F.