What a difference a day makes. On Saturday the south swell filled in, lighting up the Jetty with head-high+ waves and giving Luke his 3rd barrel (woot!), with the swell holding into today. While I'd love some more overhead waves, I'm not keen to seek out the big pitching ones. So I drove to Santa Cruz in the pre-dawn darkness to find gentler waves before the crowd and tide rose, and it was well worth getting up at 4 am.
There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot when I arrived, and a similar number of surfers in the lineup when I paddled out. I got one nice long right before the pack grew too thick, then moved to the inside left edge of the lineup in front of Jack O'Neill's house to pick off the mostly unwanted lefts. Surfline called it wrong again (at least they're consistent); the waves were shoulder- to head-high on the sets. The left was working very well and I rode a lot of good waves nearly to the beach, working through reforms and playing on the face. At the end of one ride, my stoked smile escalated into giggles, I was having so much fun! I got a couple waves that were at least head high, carving down the drop and back up onto the face, with another surfer hooting in appreciation. When I paddled back to the lineup, he congratulated me on a great ride. I don't think a stranger's ever sincerely complimented me like that before. Maybe I'm getting a little good at this surfing thing after all.
Surfline: Inconsistent ankle to waist high, clean, glassy lines looking fun for the bigger boards. New SSW (180-200) groundswell peaks as old SW (200-220) energy fades. Average areas go waist-shoulder-head high, while the better spots see inconsistent overhead sets. Clean conditions early thanks to light wind. Expect the building tide to eventually swamp things out later this morning. Buoy 46012: SSW 4.3 ft @ 16 sec.
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