Bunnies! (Dunes)

Pink sunrise

I was hoping that Dunes would offer up some decent waves this morning since I haven't surfed there in a while, and it delivered: shoulder-high plus and pretty clean with little wind, but a bit inconsistent and mushy on the high tide although the drops could be steep. My dawn patrol surf posse came together too: Darren; his friend Noah, newly transplanted from SW Florida; J-Bird and Jacob; and old man Luke, celebrating his 30th birthday today. I arrived at first light and walked past many shy brush rabbits on my way to check the surf, shivering in the barely 40-degree air. (It felt more like January than April.) After tweeting the surf report to my buddies, I suited up and paddled out alone, trying not to think of the S-word.

J-Bird escapes just in time

There was a nice rip current to take me to the empty peak with relative ease, but other currents pushing south and outside made it hard to stay lined up. Just before the others joined me, I caught a sweet head-high right from the outer bar, working it past some flat humps into a smaller reform over the inner bar before it mushed out inside of the shorepound. Woot! I took another rip back out to the lineup but couldn't top my ride of the day, instead experiencing some fabulous wipeouts and humbling underwater tumbles.

Not worth standing, Darren?

Fun rides were had by all, including the birthday boy. Stoked smiles all around!

Surfline: A swamped-out combo of leftover NW (300-310+) swell-mix and trace SSW (190-200) groundswell is in the water this morning. Better breaks offer up chest-shoulder-head high surf, with some larger sets for top NW exposures. Winds are light, but most breaks are still looking poor to fair at best thanks to some residual lump/bump and a building tide that peaks just after 8am. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 5.6 ft at 10.8 s NW 31 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 4.0 s WNW / WVHT: 5.6 ft / APD: 7.7 s / MWD: 311° (Met) WSPD: 8 kts / GST: 10 kts / WVHT: 5.6 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / WDIR: 340° / ATMP: 50.0° F / WTMP: 53.1° F. Tide: above 4 ft.