29 June 2011

Low Tide South Slide (The Hook)

Although I woke up just before my 4 a.m. alarm, I had to dig for the motivation to leave the house in the dark for the hour-long drive to Santa Cruz. What got me out the door was the thought of the south groundswell fading out today, with nothing to replace it but some junky short-period WNW windswell for the upcoming holiday weekend.
En route this time, the lightening sky was obscured by low grey clouds, remnants of the rare dry season rainstorm that passed through yesterday. I planned to surf at Pleasure Point, but when I arrived before 6, there was already a crowd on it. I checked breaks along the way as I slowly drove east on the cliff road until I reached the Hook, which surprising had only two surfers out on inconsistent but glassy chest- to head-high waves. I was on it as soon as I'd wriggled into my wetsuit. By then another surfer dude and his sponger girl had joined, but it was just the five of us for a sweet half an hour. It was too early in the morning for the aggro boys who usually dominate the peak; instead our little group shared aloha in the water. Nice. The biggest waves were closing out, the smallest were unrideable, and the medium ones were often sectiony or closed, but I got a few fun rides before the peak crowded up.
An inquisitive but wary harbor seal popped her head up to look at us, diving underwater as soon as I raised my camera, but I caught her later on video. A great mornng!
Surfline: Clean, peaks with some workable corners on offer. A bit drained, so look for improving shape as the tide builds in. A fun mix of fading SSW (190-200) groundswell and with minor NW wndswell prevails this morning. Better Southerly exposures see surf in the knee-waist-chest high range, with a larger sets for top exposures in the shoulder-head high zone. The rest of the region stays pretty small scale. Conditions are clean with light/variable WNW-NW winds. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 3.3 ft at 14.8 s S 51 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 3.7 s W / WVHT: 3.3 ft / APD: 6.9 s / MWD: 170° (Met) WSPD: 6 kts / GST: 8 kts / WVHT: 3.3 ft / DPD: 15.0 s / WDIR: 270° / ATMP: 54.3° F / WTMP: 54.0° F Tide: 0' rising to 1'.

26 June 2011

A Good Day (HMB Jetty)

This morning I rode a super fun head-high wave, met a new surf buddy, and sold my 5'8" Surftech Xanadu Rocky shortboard to an eight-year-old local girl.
It was great start to the day. Stoked!
Surfline: Short-period NW windswell fades as fun SSW (195-220) energy mixes in. Look for waist-chest-shoulder high+ waves, while standout areas hit head high on the better sets. Conditions are on the funky side thanks to breezy SW wind early (southerly wind protected spots can offer some cleaner waves). Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 4.6 ft at 7.7 s NW 50 / WIND WAVE: 4.3 ft at 6.7 s NW / WVHT: 6.2 ft / APD: 6.3 s / MWD: 313° (Met) WSPD: 16 kts / GST: 19 kts / WVHT: 6.2 ft / DPD: 8.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 53.2° F / WTMP: 54.0° F. Tide: 3' rising slightly.

23 June 2011

On the Other Side of Solstice (Hook/Sharks)

Summer solstice has just passed; it all gets darker from here. But for a while, we can enjoy early dawn patrols and late sunset sessions. This morning, a half-moon hung in the pale pre-dawn sky as I sped south on an empty freeway to meet the south swell in Santa Cruz. As I crested the summit on Highway 17, more distant peaks appeared as islands in the ground-hugging clouds which shrouded the coast.
The waves were emptier than on Sunday and still looking fun at the Hook. But by the time I'd changed, the main peak had a pack of surfers on it, so I took up residence on the next one, near where we'd surfed Sunday. I had it to myself for a while and rode some fun rights, but then a shortboarder paddled over from the crowd. The break was inconsistent and there weren't enough waves for the both of us. So I headed east a bit to Sharks, joining two surfers and a pair of janitors, and found a bunch more nice rides there, getting in a couple of turns on a few shoulders. On one very late takeoff, I made a chest-high drop on my belly, riding completely blind in a frothing foam ball before I popped to my feet and rode out the fast whitewater. Not the most elegant ride but I was stoked to pull it off!
It was so nice, as always, to surf the clean, kelp-groomed, single-swell waves of Santa Cruz.
Surfline: More SW (205-220) groundswell moves in through the day as some trace NW windswell wrap mixes in. The better breaks are in the knee-waist-chest high range, with some larger sets for top exposures. Less exposed breaks stay down under knee high for the most part. Light/variable winds and clean conditions are on offer through town. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 7.9 ft at 10.0 s NW 49 / WIND WAVE: 5.6 ft at 6.2 s NW / WVHT: 9.5 ft / APD: 7.1 s / MWD: 309° (Met) WSPD: 16 kts / GST: 19 kts / WVHT: 10.2 ft / DPD: 9.0 s / WDIR: 310° / ATMP: 53.2° F / WTMP: 52.9° F. Tide: 3' dropping to 2.5'.

19 June 2011

Silver and Gold (The Hook)

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other, gold. -Girl Scout song

A regular surf buddy enhances a session in many ways. I get to surf lonely spots, or bigger spots, where I wouldn't have the courage to paddle out alone. A buddy hoots you into waves, cheers your successes, commiserates your failures, and laughs at your wipeouts (but not in a mean way). It's nice to have someone to talk to during lulls. And to give you a wake up call for dawn patrol (although I'm always the caller and not the callee), or to coax you into a sunset session when you're feeling tired after work.
Today I got to surf with my best surf buddies, Dwayne and Luke. After I recovered (enough) from the back injury Linda Mar inflicted shortly after I moved to NorCal in 2006, I surfed with my co-worker Dwayne until he defected to SoCal a couple years ago. After a lonely solo period, I started surfing with Luke, my current buddy. In the last year or so I've collected a small surf posse, but no one else is as regular.
Dwayne with Magic
Dwayne was visiting NorCal this weekend and had time to meet up for a surf today in Santa Cruz. Luke joined us at the Hook, along with his friend Nikolara, who was surfing for only the third time. The waves were small, mostly waist- and occasionally chest-high, with the usual warm sunny weekend crowd scattered all over them. We found a spot east of the main peak that sometimes broke on its own, and got a bunch of fun little rides. I party-waved a couple with Dwayne, once in front and once behind, with him on my 8'3" Magic and me on my 7'0" Emm.

Afterward we collected our non-surfing significant others and sat in the sunshine for lunch at Paradise Beach Grille in Capitola. Good friends and good times!

Surfine: A fading mix of mainly short period NW windswell and some S groundswell set up waist-chest-shoulder high zone surf for best exposed breaks, while other areas were mainly under waist high. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 8.9 ft at 9.1 s NW 48 / WIND WAVE: 6.6 ft at 6.2 s NW / WVHT: 10.8 ft / APD: 7.3 s / MWD: 312° (Met) WSPD: 17 kts / GST: 21 kts / WVHT: 10.8 ft / DPD: 9.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 52.2° F / WTMP: 53.4° F. Tide: 1' rising to over 2'.

17 June 2011

Yawn Patrol (Linda Mar)

Yesterday afternoon I had to drive down to westside Santa Cruz to pick up my 7'0" after Ward Coffey fixed a few dings. I was hoping to get in a surf after, but only the main peak and occasionally the adjacent one were working at Steamer Lane; everywhere else was flat, and the sea was whitecapping around the corner. The Lane was oh so crowded, mostly with really good shortboarders, and while I find them entertaining to watch, I didn't want to do so from the water while relegated to the shoulder with nary an unclaimed wave for me to surf. Nor did I want to fight rush hour traffic across town to the eastside, where similar crowds likely awaited.
Surfers and spectators at Steamer Lane yesterday
Free, snails included
Instead, this morning I left the house before 5 am, heading to Half Moon Bay in the dark. The tide was negative low and the forecast lackluster so I wasn't expecting much, but when I arrived, the dimness of pre-sunrise revealed only tiny waves breaking on the sand at the Jetty. Oddly, someone had left a couple of surfboards in the parking lot with a "free" sign on them.

A south wind was kicking up, and it blew me north to Linda Mar with further lowered expectations. It looked meh from the parking lot, but I was getting wet regardless. Once in the water, I was pleasantly surprised. That's the good thing about low expectations: hard to disappoint, easy to please.

I walked to Boat Docks at the far south end of the beach, past many closeouts that were bigger than I'd realized from the lot. I watched a longboarder try to paddle out through them; he got tumbled back to the beach and started walking south too. I found a little rip near the creek and made it to the outside with little difficulty. It was also surprisingly uncrowded for Linda Mar, with only two guys on my peak to start. Perhaps the early hour had something to do with that.
Low tide at Linda Mar
The wind was offshore and continuing to rise. I got in some good practice forcing my board down the wave face against the breeze, and wasn't blown off the back too often. Lots of rides, mostly rights, with fun chest- to shoulder-high drops and shoulders that held up for a bit. Woo-hoo! It'd been far too long since a wave made me hoot.
Linda Mar is frequented by beginners, so it's not unusual to see surfers sitting too far outside. They haven't learned where to line up to catch the waves, or they drift around without noticing. But the guys on my peak seemed to know what they were doing, and I as paddled back out after a ride, I was a bit puzzled to see they'd moved well outside of my lined-up point, triangulated on a red beach house and a hill house with red trim. They'd seen on the horizon what I couldn't from my prone position: incoming bombs. Both surfers caught the first wave, which was slightly over their heads, riding in opposite directions. I turtled-rolled the roiling whitewater of that wave and of the second big one that followed, before the surf returned to fun-sized once again.

Sunshine, blue water, and fun waves. Sweet sweet stoke! All this before 7 o'clock in the morning.

Surfline: 3-4 ft, occ. 5 ft. Fair conditions. Clean, sectiony, walled up lines with a few short, pick and choose corners. More tide helps. Mainly short period NW windswell is in the water today with chest-head high surf at exposures while some modest size. South groundswell provides 3-4'+ sets at the better southerly exposed spots. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 9.5 ft at 10.0 s NW 47 / WIND WAVE: 4.9 ft at 6.7 s NW / WVHT: 10.8 ft / APD: 7.4 s / MWD: 320° (Met) WSPD: 17 kts / GST: 23 kts / WVHT: 9.8 ft / DPD: 9.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 51.8° F / WTMP: 54.0° F. Tide: Bottoming out at -1.3'.

12 June 2011

Morning with Magic (HMB Jetty)

Yesterday I dropped off my 7'0" Emm with shaper Ward Coffey to have a few minor dings repaired. This morning I brought my longboard and low expectations to the coast, and found some clean fun little waves at the Jetty. The lulls were long and it took me several waves to shift gears from last session's 5'8" Rocky to the 8'3" Magic (I didn't find any pearls, but I sure was looking for a little while).
I had to cut this video short to get out of the rider's way, but he didn't show me much consideration. Twice he paddled over quickly to where I was sitting in perfect position for a wave, then took it for himself. By the third time I'd had enough and caught the wave, my wave, forcing the snake to back off. Rude, dude, plenty of waves for everyone, no need to steal!

After I got the hang of the longboard again (I do envy surfers who can easily switch between boards), I had several nice shoulder rides and some fun drops on closeouts. But I miss Emm. Fortunately Ward says he'll have her good as new in a few days, in time for a Sunday surf in Santa Cruz with my bestest old surf buddy visiting from SoCal.

Surfline: Much lighter wind today (especially up around the Bay Area), with a small mix of NW windswell and SSW (195-205+) Southern Hemi swell. Most breaks were in the waist high and below range, while top SSW and windswell spots were a little better. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 2.3 ft at 14.8 s SSW 46 / WIND WAVE: 3.3 ft at 5.6 s WNW / WVHT: 4.3 ft / APD: 4.7 s / MWD: 289° (Met) WSPD: 12 kts / GST: 16 kts / WVHT: 4.3 ft / DPD: 6.0 s / WDIR: 310° / ATMP: 52.5° F / WTMP: 53.2° F. Tide: 3' rising to almost 4'.

09 June 2011

Rolling with Rocky (HMB Jetty)

Last night when I slid my 7'0" Emm into the boardbag, I noticed a small ding near the tail rail. I'm guessing it involved an unfortunate encounter with a barely submerged rock when I got knocked down in the shallows at Cowells last week, although I'm surprised I didn't notice it sooner. There's a sharp shallow dent with delamination that strangely extends under the tail guard. I was going to tape the ding and surf anyway, but thought better of that. The board is dry now, and best to get it fixed right way. So instead I loaded my 5'8" Surtech Xanadu Rocky into the car for dawn patrol. I've been riding Emm since late fall and was curious to see how the session would go on the shorter board.
I talked with Vanessa in the parking lot before she dashed across the road for a quick surf ahead of her trip to Sayulita later today (lucky!). Deepak and I were next into the water, and took a spot near the main peak while Vanessa surfed farther down the beach. The sweet solitude lasted a mere ten minutes before shortboarders clotted up the main peak, pushing me to the next one. While I didn't have trouble catching waves, it took me a while to get my feet planted anywhere close to where they needed to be on the little board when I popped up. Too far forward, sinking the nose. Then overcorrecting, many times, too far back and close together. Those rides were consequentially brief. Every once in a while a head-high set would roll through, giving the shortboarders nice rides, and I tested out my remarkably rusty duck-diving skills (that is, lack thereof). As the first wall of rumbling whitewater approached, I thought, OK, what do I do again? Push the nose down and also--. The wave answered: Too slow! You are going for a TUMMMM-BLE! After dozen more of those, I found some of the rhythm again and my duck-dives became at least partly effectual. Not so much my popups, although I count it as an accomplishment that I stuck the landing and made the drop on one chest-high wave (which sadly closed out at the bottom and chucked me off).

Rocky &; me, a few years ago
Emm was shaped to be a transition board between my 8'3" Magic and the 5'8" Rocky, although I wasn't sure if Rocky would be a good fit for me even if my skills improved. Now I know it's not, and I'm starting a list of what I don't like for my shaper. The board felt too light, like it was hollow or made of styrofoam. I know it actually is lighter of course because it's more than a foot shorter than Emm, but it felt like it didn't have enough density and was getting tossed around like a pool float. The board also seemed too wide when I was sitting on it, but based on a straight comparison of Rocky's numbers (11.75" x 19.5" x 14.875" x 2") to Emm's, I'm not really sure how that could be, unless perhaps it holds its wide width father back.

Regardless, Rocky's years with me are almost up. My next birthday present to myself will be the same as the last: a custom board shaped by Ward Coffey. Something smaller and more maneuverable than Emm, and also duck-diveable. I will be a decent shortboarder one day.

Surfline: 3-5'. Inconsistent SW (205-220) groundswell holds as short to mid-period NW (295-310) swell-mix mixes in. Most better exposures have waist-chest-shoulder high waves, while standout spots are seeing better sets. Winds are light-moderate onshore out of the SW-WSW for some healthy surface bump and texture at most breaks. Buoy46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.6 ft at 9.1 s NW 45 / WIND WAVE: 4.3 ft at 6.7 s NW / WVHT: 7.9 ft / APD: 6.8 s / MWD: 315° (Met) WSPD: 14 kts / GST: 16 kts / WVHT: 7.5 ft / DPD: 10.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 53.4° F / WTMP: 54.1° F. Tide: 3.5' falling to 2.5'.

05 June 2011

Arrgh! (HMB Jetty)

Last nightfall o'er spiced grog at the Cove of the Smugglers, J-bird, Jacob, Nikki 'n I decided t' meet at th' Jetty around midday fer a surf. Th' Js brought a wee mateys, an' a couple 'o them be landlubbers who had nereafore ridden the plank. When all ye buccanneers came together at th' shore o' the sea, thar be much shoutin'  'bout whar we surf. Th' Jetty t'was mixed up 'n on th' sloppy side but thar be some rideable shoulders comin' through twixt times. Nikki spake Montara looked less o' a dirty bum. Jacob wanted t' be off t' Dunes, but several 'o us swore t'wouldna be a jolly place fer a lesson. In th' end we all went in th' rum at th' Jetty.
Th' scurvy waves be, some 'o them, up t' th' top 'o me head, an' each be breakin' close on th' heels of t'nother, arrgh, so getting out t' th' calm sea t'was nay easy. I caught th' dregs o' a big abroadside wave, then fought t' get aft ou' 'nother time, 'ere I rode a short pair mostly in th' white rum. Me slow buckos had paddled ou' after me, 'n tookst me a while t' spy wit' me eye in all o' those jumbled waves. I found Nikki fer a quick spell, then kept me place near J-bird 'n Jacob. After days 'o blowin' wind from th' south, what raised th' south windswell, thar be a bad drift toward th' wall o' th' Jetty. We was all bein' a-swept t' th' messiest part, 'n had t' paddle all th' hour. Fer sure that it did look better from ashore, and t'weren't sayin' much.

Pirategrrrl
Long last, got me a nice wave what sailed port apiece, but sent meself full far into th' messy zone. Made me 'nother try to heave-ho through th' white rum but kept gettin' slogged by bilge-sucking waves, wi' nought e'en th' time to wipe th' rum from me face between, 'n found meself knocked t' th' shallows. T'was a lot 'o set the sails fer wee booty. Time to shout fare-thee-wells at me buckos 'n weigh anchor.

Surfline: A late season low which rapidly deepened starboard off th' central California coast whipped up a jolly shot 'o short t' mid-period WSW wit' waist-shoulder-head high waves at th' better breaks, as top exposures along th' central coast be goin' overhead. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 4.9 ft at 7.7 s SW 44 / WIND WAVE: 2.3 ft at 4.3 s S / WVHT: 5.6 ft / APD: 6.0 s / MWD: 216° (Met) WSPD: 12 kts / GST: 14 kts / WVHT: 5.6 ft / DPD: 8.0 s / WDIR: 140° / ATMP: 54.9° F / WTMP: 53.6° F Tide: 2.5' rising to 3'.

This post was inspired by an evening at a pirate bar. Translation into Pirate courtesy of Post Like a Pirate. (I like how it changes "water" into "rum.")

02 June 2011

Leash, Wetsuit and Other Stuff Review

OK, so I've gotten a bit behind on my gear reviews. Here they are, all at once.

I bought a Creatures of Leisure leash online when my custom surfboard arrived last fall, mainly because the cuff features my initial, "C'. Unfortunately, the leash had permakinks from the packaging wrap that resisted all attempts to remove them. It was constantly tangling around my legs, sometimes both together, at inopportune times such as during popups. I tried straightening it with heat, tension, and time, but to no avail. Showing good customer service, Tactics gave me a refund. Although I've never before had such trouble with a leash after an initial breaking-in period, I decided to give the XM Tangle-Free Leash a try. While I can't say it never gets underfoot, the slider weigh does seem to keep the leash out of the way most of the time, better than a typical leash. From limited testing, my concern that the XM would get hung up in kelp appears to be unfounded, as it's no worse than other leashes. And since Liquid Peace was out of 7' standards, they convinced me to try a thinner comp leash, which has thus far worked out fine as well.

After my Pentax Optio W80 waterproof camera flooded, I got a Pentax Optio W90. The W90 added a separate compartment for the computer connector, but sad to say, that port corroded within the first month of use. Since then, I've been meticulous about cleaning sand from the seals of the battery/SD card compartment after every session, lest it suffer the same fate as its predecessor. Needless to say, my next surf camera will not be a Pentax. I tried using an Eye-Fi card with the W90 so I wouldn't have to open that compartment so often (about half as often, since the rechargeable battery generally runs down by the end of the second surf session). But the Eye-Fi caused the camera to malfunction, getting stuck on until I removed the battery, or just freezing up. Nice idea, but failed in the execution.

When I started having some wear issues with the first generation, Golden Hour sent me a new Wrist Pod case (formerly called Wrist Shot) to keep my camera secure and handy while I surf. They've definitely improved the design, and I continue to recommend it. The original review has been updated and you can read more here.

Since late fall, I've been wearing a 4/3 Rip Curl Insulator wetsuit, and did not break out my bulky 5/4 Hotline at all. Not that I wasn't tempted, particularly when the water temperature dipped to 50 degrees last week. On the whole, the Insulator has kept me warm enough. Although I'm starting to notice a little more leakage of late, and repairs take longer since the suit has to be sent out, I'd still pick it over my admittedly cheaper and local Hotline 4/3. The fit is also better than the Hotlines, even though the Rip Curl is a size 4 and the Hotlines are size 2. It's a chest-zip, which I prefer, and comes with a removable hood that tucks under the pullover flap, frequently resulting in partly dry hair at the end of a session. The zippered key pocket is conveniently on the outside at knee level. Thumbs up, and thanks to Luke for nudging me into the Rip Curl purchase. (Update 8/17/12: The Rip Curl got too leaky and cold within a year. It's so bad, I can't even use it as a summer suit. I've heard the men's suits are more durable.)

Tired of standing out in a crowd for my appearance rather than my surfing (ha!), I recently purchased a wetsuit-black Gath Surf Convertible helmet to replace the red one (although I may still wear that if I want my buddies to find me at a crowded break). I ordered it with a Peak visor to provide some shade from the sun, since I find myself wearing my SeaSpecs sunglasses very infrequently. (In the cold water of NorCal, the SeaSpecs fog up far too often, leaving me blind at bad moments. They're still great in Hawaii though.) The helpful folks at U.S. distributor Murrays told me the visor didn't fit well on a medium Gath surf helmet, but so far it's been OK, although I have to push it up after I get slogged by a wave and it would be really nice if it was easier to remove (it attaches with screws, so yeah, it's staying on). And sadly, I haven't surfed yet on a sunny day where I could use it for its intended purpose. Hopefully soon. Update: The visor was indeed a poor fit. And after twice getting whiplash during a wipeout, I believe made worse by the helmet, I've stopped wearing it regularly, reserving it for the most risky times.

My latest purchase is a 1 mm Roxy vest. If I don't have a little padding between me and the board when I'm surfing in warm water, my ribs get bruised, but I don't need the long sleeves on my other neoprene rashguards. Now to plan another trip to someplace tropical...

Don't "Leave a Message" (Review)

I was excited when I first heard about Leave a Message: A Women's Surf Film (free download). But I found it disappointing, the welcome spotlight on female surfers overshadowed by their blatant objectification.
Judged purely as a surf flick, there's nothing special here. It's a series of speechless music videos strung together, each focusing on a single surfer: Malia Manuel, Coco Ho, Monyca Byrne-Wickey, Lakey Peterson, Laura Enever, and Carissa Moore. The short film is devoid of any shots of paddling or dropping in, and even omits most wipeouts in favor of repetitive riding footage. (Smack the lip, cutback. Smack the lip, cutback. Yawn.) But that's no different than most surf movies. Carissa's portion is most enjoyable, as she seems to flow with the waves.

One is left with the impression that surfing occurs almost exclusively in places where the water is warm enough to wear a skimpy bikini. Occasionally the girls cover up with a competition rashguard and there are a few shots of Lakey in a fullsuit, but their skin is otherwise uncovered to the maximum extent possible in a general-release movie. Which means this film is not about the surfing so much as it is about sexy young female bodies, model-types who happen to surf well.

I guess I shouldn't have expected much else from Nike. Like the rest of the surf industry, they're out to sell stuff, primarily clothing, to people who don't surf but want to appropriate our supposed mystique. And sex sells. So if they can find some hot girls who surf, why not use them to sell bikinis and shirts? I'm not saying that these women aren't good surfers (they are), but I'm quite certain that if they were older, less lithe and not so pretty, they wouldn't be in this film, even if they surfed much better. And clearly Nike's not too interested in their surfing. Carissa's bio on the Nike 6.0 website doesn't even mention her unprecedented 11 NSSA National Titles.

As longboard champion Cori Schumacher points out in her post "Proliferating Stereotypes for Profit":
The current image (long hair, athletic, slim-but-not-too-slim, flirtatious and heterosexual, always smiling, younger and younger, sexy and skin bearing) continues to feed into the status quo for female athletes that emphasizes ability as an accessory to beauty. It is unchallenging to the dominant male sexual economy and it is fueling the current re-emergence of the sexual objectification of women in surf media.
Leave a Message is being touted in some circles as a leap forward for women's surfing, but it seems to me like a step back. I'd like to get to a place where women, in surfing as well as life, are judged and promoted based on their abilities and accomplishments instead of their bodies.

01 June 2011

Mmm, South Swell (Cowells)

With a south groundswell and a negative low tide, there were some fun little waves to be had at Cowells. Getting up at 4 am was well worth it.
My arms tired quickly (probably since I swam extra long yesterday) and I didn't want to fight the pack of longboarders on the main peak, so I stayed on the inside and had a break to myself much of the time. The waves were soft and I was on my 7'0" Emm, so I had to be at the peak and wait for the bigger set waves, which were going around chest-high. I got many fun rides that, while not long for Cowells, were longer than I've had in a while. It was nice to have a shoulder to play on. Stoked!
Interesting water droplet effect
Surfline: 1-3 ft. Soft, small scale lines for the longboard. South (190-170) groundswell builds in further and peaks today, mixing with continued NW-WNW (290-310) mid period swell. Better exposed breaks are seeing surf in the waist-chest-head high range this morning, as top exposures pull in a few overhead+ sets. Winds are light out of the North for clean conditions through town. Shape is a little drained coming off a 5am negative low tide, with most areas improving through the morning with the tide push. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 7.9 ft at 11.4 s NW 43 / WIND WAVE: 1.3 ft at 3.4 s WSW / WVHT: 7.9 ft / APD: 8.8 s / MWD: 306° (Met) WSPD: 6 kts / GST: 8 kts / WVHT: 7.9 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / WDIR: 180° / ATMP: 52.3° F / WTMP: 51.6° F. Tide: Less than 0' rising to just above.