All,
Just a quick note... swell definetly filled in over night up here. I surfed yesterday off a rip bank with chest high super hollow fun lefts (think very hollow uppers lefts).
This morning Bob and I paddled out into DOH + surf with light offshores, well defined peaks and moving large volumes of water as the outter sand bars are picking up the 17 second energy from this latest swell. Bob's 25 minute paddle out left me sitting way outside for longer than I wanted... I got lucky and found a rip which pushed me through the impact zone and into open water for the long stroke to the outter bars.
Once outside we found dropping in put your heart in your throat and getting to the bottom to hit that first turn seemed to take along time. Not a high wave count day (10?), but certainly one that I'll remember for awhile. Bob, who usually escapes the "OB - flogging", took one for the team today but managed to score some pretty good looking waves and deep.
So in short, you should be seeing this swell hitting So Cal tomorrow I'd say (unless it's already there!)
Hope you get waves for the comp.
PS: Stars aligning for next week at OB San Francisco
I send this note as an invitation for any So Cal'ers to come on up. The report for next week looks very good and while the tides are still showing 6' highs and 0' lows, this will provide plenty of opportunities as the winds move to an offshore pattern.
Below is the forecast from our local guru (he's pretty much dead on with his forecasting for OB):
Friday: 5-6 ft 14-17 sec 300 deg, light to no winds, what more can you ask for? South winds are coming up (noon), sort of a cross-wind, and swell is about to start dropping. Late arvo expect some cross wind and about 4 ft 14 sec swell.
Don: spot on with this call! 14-17 seconds is primetime for OB and increases the size to where the outter bars start to work.
Saturday: Winds turn onshore after the front, then quickly shift to north winds, raw swell builds in. Not great at places with northerly exposure.
Don: good day to get chores done.
Sunday: high pressure builds in, winds turn offshore, gets rideable fast. This looks like a day for guns and drama. Probably our traditional SuperBowl Sunday Swell, a week late. Still a lot of swell. And, until winds turn off, it will have a lot of north windswell in it.
Don: worth a look anyway at the afternoon low tide... Sloat could be very interesting!
Monday: smaller day, overhead or less, offshore flow.
Don: Good... small and clean surf... can you imagine?
Offshore flow should continue into next Thursday, with long period swell running 4-7 feet throughout. In short, a good stretch of surf. I'd recommend planning for it.
Don: This is what we really need - good size, good swell energy, sand bars are in good shape and lineups are empty.
Anyone considering the Hawaii trip should think about a training run up to OB... It's good for the soul!
I want to go and it's usually a blast! I'm moving that weekend and will be lugging furniture and tons of other junk around.
BE THERE !!!
