Drop and Fizzle (Linda Mar)

When I saw the surf this morning, I immediately dialed back my low expectations to very low. It was sloppy and small with a light onshore breeze under drizzling skies. This was to have been Beanstalk's birthday surf, but J-Bird bailed them last minute since he took a fin to the knee yesterday. Still, I expected some of the crew to show up anyway. I was wrong, and ended up surfing alone with strangers at Linda Mar.

With suitably debased expectations, it was hard to be disappointed. I'd brought Nemo, and the fish was fun in waves that were mostly soft drops before they lost energy and fizzled out. I did get longer rides on a couple of rights near Boatdocks, lucking into bits of swell that felt more urgency about getting to shore. 

As I left the beach with little orange/white/black Nemo tucked under my arm, a surf school was heading out. I wonder how many of those newbies got enough of a taste of the surfing drug that they are well on the path to addiction, their lives changed forever by the feeling of standing on a wave.

Hopefully I found sufficient stoke in those cold crumbles to last me into later next week, since there's a storm a-comin'. It's our first winter storm with predictions of substantial rain after the dry season. If that happens the ocean will be fouled with runoff, and this is the one time each year I follow the advice to stay out of the water for 72 hours. 

I never noticed this mural in the restroom before - too busy trying not to step in anything gross

Surfline: Very dense fog this morning making things difficult to discern. Expect scattered lines around waist high with a few larger sets showing on occasion. Soft/crumbly shape. WNW swell fades as new West-NW wind/groundswell blend picks up and small, inconsistent SSW swell continues. Waist-chest-shoulder high surf shows at exposed areas, while top breaks hit head high to overhead on sets, especially as we move into the afternoon. Onshore Westerly wind now with some bump/crumble to the surface. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 2.6 ft at 14.8 s W 92 / WIND WAVE: 4.9 ft at 5.9 s NW / WVHT: 5.6 ft / APD: 4.9 s / MWD: 311° (Met) WSPD: 16 kn / GST: 19 kn / WVHT: 5.6 ft / DPD: 6.0 s / ATMP: 55° F / WTMP: 56° F. Tide: 3' rising above 3.5'.