The State of The Sea Report
Posted by Jon Shafer at 10/22/2007 6:23 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
La Niña Influence Being Felt All Over California
Fires, fires, and more fires. Daytime temperatures in the mid-eighties, humidity below 10%. These are the telltale features of a La Niña October...
Fortunately, there has been an ample amount of North Pacific storm activity to produce local surf, albeit on the steep side of the swell bearing due to the extreme Northern trajectory.
Saturday morning saw small and crumbly waves at Rincon; few dared to even don their wetsuits at morning's first late. Later in the day the swell began to fill in, and by the time of the evening glass off, solid and steady 5' waves were there for the taking... The only problem was the quality of the surf - the result of windswell on top of NW groundswell on top of SW groundswell - amounting to mixed-up and unorganized funky shoulders. Still, it was worth getting wet for...
Sunday morning the surf cleaned up considerably as the swell peaked. Unfortunately, everybody and their brother showed up to stake a claim, leaving many surfers shaking their heads wondering what they were doing there, and how they were going to manage to get what they came for. On average, the set waves were head-high to about a foot overhead. However, the sets were inconsistent.
All weekend long there was an eerie and intense haze resulting from smoke and airborne ash kick up by the at times "hurricane force" Santa Ana winds.
By this morning the swell had faded significantly, but those who went out anyway were rewarded with perhaps the best session of the swell as things had really cleaned up, and the crowd thinned.
Let's all hope that Mother Nature continues to provide surf, but also that the California firefighters get some help in battling what appears to be shaping up as the most devastating October on record...
Fires, fires, and more fires. Daytime temperatures in the mid-eighties, humidity below 10%. These are the telltale features of a La Niña October...
Fortunately, there has been an ample amount of North Pacific storm activity to produce local surf, albeit on the steep side of the swell bearing due to the extreme Northern trajectory.
Saturday morning saw small and crumbly waves at Rincon; few dared to even don their wetsuits at morning's first late. Later in the day the swell began to fill in, and by the time of the evening glass off, solid and steady 5' waves were there for the taking... The only problem was the quality of the surf - the result of windswell on top of NW groundswell on top of SW groundswell - amounting to mixed-up and unorganized funky shoulders. Still, it was worth getting wet for...
Sunday morning the surf cleaned up considerably as the swell peaked. Unfortunately, everybody and their brother showed up to stake a claim, leaving many surfers shaking their heads wondering what they were doing there, and how they were going to manage to get what they came for. On average, the set waves were head-high to about a foot overhead. However, the sets were inconsistent.
All weekend long there was an eerie and intense haze resulting from smoke and airborne ash kick up by the at times "hurricane force" Santa Ana winds.
By this morning the swell had faded significantly, but those who went out anyway were rewarded with perhaps the best session of the swell as things had really cleaned up, and the crowd thinned.
Let's all hope that Mother Nature continues to provide surf, but also that the California firefighters get some help in battling what appears to be shaping up as the most devastating October on record...
Yesterday was VERY cool for the reasons you mentioned. And SL8R was at the Indic8r!! As I kooked out at the Rivermouth I was wondering who it was pulling those 720 airs...
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