Summer Lingers (Linda Mar)

This afternoon there were empty waves at the Jetty but they were poorly shaped and an unappealing shade of brown, probably due to red tide, plus there was a steady onshore/sideshore breeze. I used my smartphone to check the Surfline report for Linda Mar (see below) and was feeling lucky, so I drove there instead.

On a sunny warm afternoon in October, there was no better way to enjoy perhaps summer's last breath than at the beach. Lots of other folks had the same idea. (Don't these people have jobs?!)

The paddle out north of the creek at the south end was harder than I expected, and I was waterlogged and a little queasy by the time I slogged through the onslaught of shorter-period whitewater to reach the lineup. After a little time bobbing in the chop, dodging outside closeout bombs, I caught a right to the inside and, not wanting to make the same slog again, decided to try my luck even farther south.

Boatdocks was more crowded but many more of the waves had shoulders. I got some nice rides there, a few lefts and a right and some sectiony things in between. The waves were rampy and fun. Sunny stoke!

As I started to change out of my wetsuit in the parking lot, a random woman walked up to ask me how she could find someone to teach her to surf. I couldn't resist first replying with the bumper sticker axiom: "Surfing sucks. Don't try it."

Surfline: 3-5 ft occ. 6 ft, fair conditions. Clean, walled lines with a few sections to pick off if you can get lucky. Short to mid period mix of NW-WNW swell combines with some secondary SW southern hemi swell to put the better exposures in waist-head high waves. Standout winter breaks go a couple feet+ overhead on the larger waves during the more favorable tides. Light winds prevail throughout the day. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.2 ft at 10.0 s WNW 91 / WIND WAVE: 2.0 ft at 4.2 s WNW / WVHT: 6.6 ft / APD: 7.3 s / MWD: 290° (Met) WSPD: 10 kn / GST: 14 kn / WVHT: 7.6 ft / DPD: 10.0 s / ATMP: 56° F / WTMP: 56° F. Tide: 3.5' falling to 1'.