Sheets of Gray Satin (Hook)

I'd hoped to surf closer to home this week, but the wind's been relentless, and my coastside sources advised against it. So I woke at 4 am to make the trek south and greet the sunrise from the water in Santa Cruz.

The waves were small and glassy, and the crowd friendly and mellow.

I saw the soft-top girl who inspired the anecdote that led off my post Surfer Girls Rock here and on The Inertia, and paddled over to introduce myself. She's Glenna, daughter of Glenn the graybeard, and a super nice person. She didn't remember me from our brief encounter but offered to share waves anytime.

The hoots of Glenn and Glenna, riding the smallest rollers together on the far end, prompted a smiling admonishment from an aging longboarder to "Keep it down - you two are having too much fun over there!" This morning's lineup skewed toward older longboarders instead of young shortboarders, and the vibe was pure aloha.

Accidental underwater photo. One can almost make out a variety of odd creatures beneath the waves.

There was a left working on the second peak that gave me frontside smiles, but the backside rights were longer. I rode a lot of fun little waves, sharing one with Glenna broken by a section between us, our raised-arm salutes at the end punctuated by Glenna's hoot. A-lo-ha!

California poppies

Surfline: Today there's a holding SSW swell providing most of the waves while some minor NW windswell drops. Surf is inconsistent and on the weak/slow side this morning as the tide fills in to a 4' high at 9am. Still, the better spots are seeing some waist-shoulder high sets in between the long flat spells. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 4.6 ft at 10.0 s NW 33 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 4.0 s W / WVHT: 4.6 ft / APD: 7.5 s / MWD: 318° (Met) WSPD: 12 kn / GST: 14 kn / WVHT: 4.3 ft / DPD: 10.0 s / WDIR: 190° / ATMP: 51° F / WTMP: 53° F. Tide: 2' rising to 3'.