Summer Lovin' (HMB Jetty)

Had me a blast! I wanted to charge the main peak at the Jetty on this gorgeous warm weekday afternoon. And I was excited to see only three people out when I arrived, and that the swell hadn't dropped a whole lot from yesterday. Too bad a bunch of other folks had the same idea, and it crowded up fast as the tide dropped from high. So I sat on the edge with Luke, and luckily the waves were shifty so some came our way.

Today is expected to break heat records for this date, as well as come in as hottest of the year despite being the first of October. Although it was 95°F/35°C when I left home, the coast was comfortably in the 70s. Luke went with his sleeveless wetsuit and did not want to hear about the jellyfish I paddled past in a patch of mucky water, or the one at the bottom of a wave I didn't make. He'd already snagged a few rides when we caught a right together. The wave was head-high on me, shoulder-high on him, and as he overtook me he dropped off to let me have it. (Nice thing about surfing with friends!) It was a frickin' awesome ride with three drops as it reformed twice. I raced along the face doing my tentative little turns to keep the fun going all the way to the shallows. Yee-haw!

Luke caught a bunch more waves than me, and I think one reason is because he goes for more of them while I let the funky mutants and closeouts roll on past. I stopped paddling for a wave when I saw it converging from two sides, but Luke continued on and they smashed together as he popped up at the intersection yet somehow stayed upright and rode a little. He pays a price for boldness though, getting hurled into the bottom when another wave broke on his back.

The growing main peak crowd pushed me away to the second peak, where I caught a nice left but sadly fell as I tried not to run over Luke paddling back on the inside. A swarm of shortboarders was forming on the second peak too, everyone jockeying for position. Then another right came my way and I took it, angling the drop down the big face and getting another fast fun ride. Woot! I wish I could do this every day.

Note on photos/video: As yesterday, the pre-surf shots were taken with my smartphone, an HTC One S, and the post-surf shots were with my new (refurbished) waterproof Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4, which is the warranty replacement for my TS3 that was having trouble staying focused. I've been trying out the burst mode, which yielded the sequence above. When the waves are smaller, I'll get it wet. On days like today, I just want surf!

Surfline: Fun size mix of old NW swell and peaking SSW groundswell on tap today. Shape is fairly peaky and crossed up with waves running chest-head high+ pretty regularly while standouts go 2-3'+ overhead on sets. Winds are light and conditions clean but watch for the mid day high tide to slow some spots down a little. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 4.6 ft at 10.8 s WNW 83 / WIND WAVE: 1.3 ft at 5.0 s WNW / WVHT: 4.9 ft / APD: 8.5 s / MWD: 290° (Met) WSPD: 12 kn / GST: 14 kn / WVHT: 4.9 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / ATMP: 58° F / WTMP: 56° F. Tide: Above 4' falling to 3.5'.