Springtime Fun (Linda Mar)

Storms kept me out of the water last weekend and made me hungry for waves. With the winds finally calmed and the surf cleaned up, I had to go this morning. Stupid daylight savings time drove me to the beach while it was still dark, and constrained the length of my session against the demands of work. The swell had dropped more than forecast, and in the dim pre-dawn I could see nothing rideable at the Jetty, just beachside froth rimmed by little closeouts.

Linda Mar was nearly a lake when I arrived, but there were some waves on the north end. Leashing up on the beach, I realized the earlier placidity had been a lull, and sets were lighting up several peaks along the cove with waist- to chest-high waves. (I wondered then if I'd been mistaken about the Jetty, but hadn't had the time to check it for more than a few minutes.) While the growing crowd was starting to pack the north, I saw a tempting unridden left in front of Taco Bell, with only one longboarder in the vicinity.

Frequent lulls were long and cold, but in between I got some fun little sectiony rides. The waves were a good size for practicing late take-offs and feeling my way into turns on Rocket, including some stokeful ramps off oncoming sections. The longboarder departed halfway through my session, leaving me happily alone on the peak. As I shivered through another lull waiting for my last wave, a pod of dolphins porpoised in the distance. A very Merry Equinox indeed!

Surfline: Clean, sectiony lines rolling through with sets up to waist-chest high. Pick-n-choose corners. Blend of a primary holding WNW-NW windswell/groundswell and new/peaking SSW groundswell. Look for the standout winter spots to be biggest with head high to overhead WNW sets, while standout summer spots produce waist-chest high+ SSW sets. Beachbreaks exposed to the combo are peaky. Conditions are clean across the region with calm/light wind. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 5.6 ft at 10.8 s W 25 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 4.2 s WSW / WVHT: 5.6 ft / APD: 8.5 s / MWD: 281° (Met) WSPD: 10 kn / GST: 12 kn / WVHT: 5.3 ft / DPD: 10.0 s / WDIR: 130° / ATMP: 50° F / WTMP: 49° F Tide: 3.5' rising to 4'.