04 May 2011

Hot and Cold (HMB Jetty)

Heather and I found some fun little waves at the Jetty after work. We were joined by a seal, a flock of pelicans, and a handful of other surfers that swelled to a crowd for a time with a school surf team in the water. We had a peak well off the main one to ourselves except for a janitor who occasionally paddled in from far outside. The wind was blowing steadily out of the north at less than the average of the speeds reported by WeatherBug (22 mph) and WeatherUnderground (5 mph).
Two take-away bullet points from today's surf: First, Dress for the water, not the air. We're having a heat wave now, with air temperatures at the beach in the upper 70s under clear sunny skies. But the water is very cold, barely 50 degrees. I wore my lightweight hood and gloves, and after an hour, I was shivering in the breeze, with numb hands and feet. Second, Don't be too hungry. Several times when Heather was quite sensibly paddling toward the horizon as a likely-to-closeout outside wave approached, I threw caution to the wind and attempted a quite late takeoff, leading to some impressive wipeouts. I need to let those waves go, and remember that another wave will be along in a few minutes for which I'm better positioned.

Surfline: This afternoon there's a decent size NW (290-305+) swell mix along with a combo of some S/SSW (180-200) Southern Hemi. Surf is mainly waist-chest-shoulder high zone, as top breaks see plus sets. Light+/moderate WNW winds in the early afternoon for semi-clean conditions to some bump. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.6 ft at 10.8 s NW 36 / WIND WAVE: 3.3 ft at 5.6 s WNW / WVHT: 7.2 ft / APD: 6.9 s / MWD: 322° (Met) WSPD: 16 kts / GST: 19 kts / WVHT: 7.2 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 52.7° F / WTMP: 51.1° F. Tide: Around 3' rising slightly.

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