Voices (Capitola)

"Put your wetsuit on! Hurry up!"

   -Small boy, running back to his dad after checking the surf

"The waves looked bigger in the dark." 

   -Early dawn patroller in the water

"Surfergrrrl!" 

   -New surf buddy Forest, paddling to meet me in the lineup

"Got a perfect stand up barrel for like two seconds." 

   -Old surf buddy Dwayne, by email from SoCal

Apparently Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry hears God talking to him. The voice in my head this morning wasn't God; it was my surf coach. "Put it in high gear," when I was paddling to catch a wave. "See where the wave is going to break. Sometimes you have to head out toward it to be in the right position." And on my way back to the lineup, "paddle fast, to build strength."

There were only two guys out when I attached my leash on the beach just after dawn, but half a dozen arrived at the lineup on my heels, and the crowd continued to grow with the daylight. Still, it was less than I heard packed other Town spots. A south groundswell has just filled in, the same one that brought tow-sized waves to Teahupo'o and the largest waves in 10 years to Oahu's Ala Moana Bowls. It's being hyped as the swell of the summer, and so far it's living up to that.

Amidst some whitewatery rides where I couldn't get around a section, I nailed 3 or 4 solid shoulder-high rights with faces that held up to the inside, and almost made the drop on a 6-footer. I kept wanting to try the left off of the main peak which had a hotshort shortboarder on it (that'll be me one day), but every time I thought about paddling over there, I'd catch another right. Twice I'd just made it back to the lineup, with barely enough time to rid myself of the kelp trailing from my leash, before moving into position for the next wave. Forest got some nice rides on his longboard too. Stoked smiles all around!

Surfline: 3-5 ft, waist to head high occ. 6 ft, good conditions. Long period SSW (200-210) groundswell continues to fill in this morning as some small NW swell-wrap mixes in. Most of the better exposed breaks through the region are seeing surf in the chest-shoulder-head high+ range this morning, with sets up to a few feet overhead at top summer breaks. Winds are light for clean conditions as the tide bottoms out. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 10.2 ft at 21.1 s S 69 / WIND WAVE: 1.6 ft at 3.6 s WNW / WVHT: 10.2 ft / APD: 8.3 s / MWD: 190° (Met) WSPD: 2 kts / GST: 4 kts / WVHT: 10.2 ft / DPD: 21.0 s / WDIR: 210° / ATMP: 53.4° F / WTMP: 54.5° F / 06:50a PDT. Tide: Bottoming out around 1'.