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Just spent a week in BCS and was chased out by the first tropical storm/hurricane of the season. Enrique sent swell pretty far up the Sea of Cortez and we had head high waves the whole time.
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Good thing I came home early, arrived just in time to pack our gear to evacuate from the Lava fire which is bearing down on our town of Mt. Shasta. Camper is packed and headed to Crescent City to beat the heat and smoke. Water is only 30 degrees colder than our week in Baja...
Just 30. You should be fine. Best of luck with that fire and your home. So the season begins.
You should see if you can attend Da Bull’s funeral. RIP Greg.
EWG - check the local drug store for QuickStop. It is blood clotting assistance for instant scanning. It stops bleeding on land. Not sure if it will work in the water.
I cut the top of my foot pretty bad at Matapalo years ago. No stores or anything there, so just kept on surfing on it. Never healed because I was getting it wet daily and the humidity but the salt water kept it from getting infected. Have a nice scar there now. It was worth it.
Otto will look for that. But it seems to have stopped bleeding which is enough for me. Altasnob yeah I’m with ya. No real waves today but some people let their 6 year old ride a paddleboard without a leash and she got blown out to sea. Strong land breeze. We noticed when the kid jumped off the back and swam to two adult wearing life jackets. They let the paddle board blow out to sea and swam her slowly back in. My kid went out on a longboard we happened to have on the beach despite the lack of waves to see if they needed help (they were ok and almost to a sandbar) so he kept going to try to reach the board. Too much wind, too far out.
He shepherded them back to shore. Then we saw a fishing boat pick up the board, so we swam out to meet it. Fairly far. Fisherman thought it was ours, gave us a load of shit and told us we owed them beer, and dumped it over to us. I swam back and kid paddled it in.
About 50 yards off shore we meet one of the adults, life jacketed up, struggling to try to get out. Kid surfs the paddleboard in, guy comes back in and gets it, gives us a quick thanks then takes off. That’s it. I think the dude was embarrassed, but hey man, show some gratitude. We just saved you a grand. And made sure your kid was safe.
Oops. Double post and can’t delete on the app
Not exactly epic, but I'm within a long, but reasonable striking distance to some decent NJ breaks. Wife/kids out of town last night/today and had a very light meeting schedule this morning before the holiday weekend, and conditions looked decently 3' with light offshore winds. Packed car up set alarm wake up make coffee check pre-dawn surf cams/report and as I'm about to leave see thunderstorms predicted right during my window.... hesitate and decide it's not worth the 90 min drive. Fast forward to checking surf cams now at work where it's perfectly clean and basically no one in the lineup at Manasquan. Fucking weather guessers.... never know til ya go, but damn pissed wanted to get my new 7'4 wet! The replacement 90 min lake SUP, while good exercise, definitely is kinda a let down.
Manasquan is such a fun wave. And empty to boot.
I remember being down in the outer banks on a surf trip with my buddies when I was in collage and seeing a guy with a 4” fin dice on his back having lunch. It was open, and he planned to go back in to have the salt water clean it instead of “wasting” his time driving to the urgent care. Open fun wounds is the way it is done down there, so you should be all good.
Kudos on helping save that kid and retrieving the board and dealing with grumpy boaters all in the same hour.
Got a solo session in Saturday AM at 33rd street, great lefts just north of the jetty. Crowded, but was able to get a fair amount of waves including one head high set wave that was the wave of the trip.
Sunday AM I surfed with my 12 year old cousin for the first time ever, surfing the right that was breaking directly off the 28th st jetty (he said it was too big at 33rd lol). Waves weren't as good, but I've been waiting for that kid to start surfing for years now so to finally get out with him was a blast. We got blackballed earlier than expected and had to cut the session short. Then the holiday hordes descended and we retreated to the roof deck for several hours to avoid the tourons.
Won't really have time to surf in SD while I'm down here I don't think, but will be back down in a car with my own boards in October for like 1.5 weeks so I'm sure I'll get a ton of sessions in then.
8 straight days of 3 or more hours in the water for me. Tough for a Colorado guy. Trying to decide if I can go out again today or if the fact that I can’t raise my hands above my shoulders is a warning sign that I should heed.
Waves have been consistent and nice, but there are some long waits between sets.
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EWG, where are you finding waves? San Diego is waist high best case.
Outer banks. East coast. Gotta be patient but there’s stuff to ride.Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
I broke down and went for 20 minutes before I bailed. Didn’t even ride anything. Maybe this afternoon. Need food first.
Where in San Diego?Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
Orange County has been nuts since early May. Are you in an area that is shadowed from the S/SW swells? Because it has bee nonstop up here.
The weekend was insane. Again.
Thursday I paddled out north of the HB pier, around 9th street. It was shoulder to head high, but the tide was pretty low, which meant it was nice and zippy. HB can sometimes be soft at shoulder high, but with the low tide there was a bit of push. It ended up being really fun, you just had to find the corners. I kept going left, no need to fight the current, and got out after about 6-8 fun (mostly) lefts up around tower 18. The sideshore drift has been pretty strong. With the lower tide HB felt almost like a cross between HB and Newport. Not as punchy and walled as Newport can be, but not as soft as HB when it does not have the size and the tide is high. There was some real punch, but you didn't worry about getting pitched and slammed into the sand the way you can at the upper Newport streets.
Friday I actually tried Newport and had fun. It seems to have gotten a bit better in the upper streets, there actually ARE corners now, but what made it great was that I caught the 56th street jetty with only a couple of guys at shoulder high. That is a rare treat. It was punchy and fun. After an hour and 15 minutes an aggressive group showed up and I took it as a cue to go finish my work before the weekend. I really love being able to get in mid-day sessions without the before/after work crowd! Of course, things have changed quite a bit, with so many people remote now those mid-day sessions are more crowded than they used to be.
Saturday and Sunday were nuts. Both days I headed down to Trestles to surf the Cottons/Barbedwires zone. It was head high+ each day, and it remained mostly clean. Fun, lined up lefts with a good end section. Sunday just might have been my best day of the summer. It was 4-7, lined up and consistent, some of the lefts were running around 100 yards. Big, fun walls where you could get in one pump, then flow into a nice big bottom turn/top turn before there was a nice racy section on the inside. It was just about as good as it gets for a kook like me, easy takeoffs and very easy to surf. I really love that zone when it is like that. I probably spent 3.5 hours in the water on Sunday.
The water is warm, around 68 or so. I have been either trunking it or in a spring suit.
Monday I gave my shoulders a break and got some much-needed work done. Today I got in a late morning window at the south HB pier. Shoulder high, occasionally head high, with fun shape. The sideshore current can suck you into the pier, so you have to be careful. I would typically get in at tower 3, get a couple of lefts, then walk back to tower 3. The south to north drift has been crazy!
I hope the rest of you guys are getting some! Does the Wilmington NC area get good surf? I guess the closest beach would be Wrightsville. The inlet I see in the map looks like it might form some good sandbars...and attract sharks.
EWG, is Wrightsville close to where you are?
That’s a couple hundred miles south of me. We are near salvo and s-curves. Jeannettes Pier area. You have to be willing to work for it here but it’s rewarding if you like that.
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Long DD, San Diego does not pick up south swells as well as OC except for maybe around Dolphin Tanks (requires a boat) or Wind & Sea (requires a few body guards). So when waist high here, I know trestles is shoulder high. I look at the web cams and honestly don't see much to motivate me as I am lazy.
That makes sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
I used to have a buddy who had a condo on Nautilus, you could easily walk to Windansea. We would go down there to party from time to time. I think we only surfed it once or twice, we might hit Blacks on the way down, but Windansea is just too much of a zoo. If it was good the crowd was a nightmare.
I actually only go to Trestles when it is at least head high, otherwise it is too much of a nuisance. It makes me feel lucky here, OC is arguably better in the summer than the winter. That is open for debate, but the fact that you can even ask the question is good for us.
I think I have surfed the Carlsbad area in the summer, and Oceanside. I have a buddy in Encinitas who says most of north county just goes flat in the summer, which royally sucks.
My LA county buddies say the same thing, other than the Malibu area. One of my ski lease mates, who was a friend in college, comes down from the Hawethorne area to surf HB with me from time to time.
One of my buddies moved to O Side and his comment was bigger in the summer and a bit smaller in winter (ok by him) than down south. The surf usually blows in Coronado, so I end up driving to Swami's mostly, which is best in the winter.
Shut out today between Elsa and a lack of size. Though my kid found a few literal shore breaks to keep the streak alive.
Hopefully back at it tomorrow. Probably need a day off anyway.
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Are you on Coronado?Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
Okay. That makes sense.
I know Coronado has beachbreaks, but I almost never hear about them getting particularly good. I also rarely hear about them being decent. Huntington has surf almost every day. Lots would call it 'consistently mediocre' and they would have a point, but you really can surf almost every day in HB, Newport and San Clemente if you want to.
If those Coronado beachbreaks were consistently decent that would be different. But If those are not working you have to cross the bridge, THEN drive up to La Jolla or wherever. In certain ways I almost think downtown would be easier, as you can drive to Ocean Beach or Point Loma more easily, or head up to La Jolla, or head to north county. Coronado works if you can hit those beachbreaks, but if you don't want to surf them you are pretty sequestered.
Today was lots of fun at Cottons. I got there slightly late, around 1045, so the tide was a bit high, but it ended up working out well as it had cleared out a bit. I rarely surf Cottons proper, but I was able to surf it today at head high+ with only about 10 guys spread out between the two peaks. It was a bit warbly, the tide was high, but I got a few beautiful, line up lefts taking off in front of Nixon's old pad. That area is usually a bit more crowded. To get this kind of a hole in the crowd is really nice. It would have been a bit better earlier, but if you can surf head high Cottons with only a few people out and 70 degree water you have nothing to complain about.
This has been one of the best early summer/spring periods I can remember. It seems like it has been shoulder high or bigger for a couple of months. My shoulders could use a breather! That's a good problem to have.
Yup, Coronado. It can get good (like really good) in the winter after a HUGE storm breaks up the bottom and you have sand bars, but eventually it goes to shit as the sand bars go away. The Cliffs are good, but I like Swami's better, so I make the drive.
Boy, the last 2 days have been pretty small down here. Maybe a waist high set if lucky.
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One of the best things about visiting my old friends back in New England is that is suddenly appreciating sub waist high waves. Go out and get wet. It never is really horrible. Surfing is fun.
That is funny. We have a little longboard bump happening and the wall is packed. It's awesome. But just getting back it's such a night and day deal. It's truly comparable to skiiing east vs west. Same thing. It's all fun, but there is a significant difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ottime
What a summer it has been.
Thursday morning I went for an early session at Cottons/Barbedwires, something I don't normally get to do. I was in the water from about 730 to about 945. It was clean, I was trunking it and it was about a foot overhead and pretty lined up. A bit soft, but after one cutback Cottons would line up across the inside. I actually surfed Cottons proper, right between Nixon's house and the house immediately south of his, as there were only about 10 guys in the water. I had the one peak almost to myself at times. I was going left mostly, but occasionally right. One of the better sessions of the summer so far.
Friday I got a morning session in HB in. A bit walled, but still head high with the occasional fun peak. Still easily trunkable even up in Orange County. I had a conference call so the session was short for me, about an hour in the water, but still well worth it.
Saturday I went for the late morning/early afternoon session, this time down at Barbedwires as the tide was a bit high for Cottons. The swell had dropped, but it was still shoulder high+ with some fun ones, although a bit soft. Occasionally you would find a left that line up nicely all the way to the sourthernmost house on the bluff. The water is still in the low 70s.
What a summer it has been. Some very solid swells, and it seems like it has been at least 3-4 since early May.
I'm going to try for an early session tomorrow, probably early AM until about 815, which would be right after high tide. This has been the summer that keeps on giving. I don't think there have been any mega-swells, like the ones where Cottons id DOH, but we have had a few that were a couple of feet overhead and it seems like HB has been 3-4+ for two months straight. This reminds me of why I love this area so much. Consistently mediocre some might say, but after learning to surf in Santa Barbara and thinking a waist high day at Sands was good in the summer I really appreciate areas that pick up S/SSW/SW swells.
FML...
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That looks rough.Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
I got in a quick session at 56th street this morning. It was shoulder high and decent, but crowded.
Sunday looks like it could be REALLY good. An early Cottons session might be the call. There should be options all over the place though. 4-6 is a great size for the Trestles region.
Here is the south OC forecast.
https://www.surfline.com/surf-foreca...30e24c4487900a