Author Topic: What a difference a day makes  (Read 1602 times)

SUPcheat

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What a difference a day makes
« on: November 29, 2015, 04:59:06 PM »
Santa Cruz has been pretty quiet for a couple of weeks, if not flat.  I waited today for the 3 ft tide mark, around 2:45PM today to go out at Privates.

The water looked pretty energetic. I should have known from the aggressive large shore break that something was up. I saw two proners coming in, their boards flung in the air in the shore break and the proners somersaulted.

Through some idiot perseverance, I managed to catch a rip prone paddling to carry me rapidly past the shore break.  Once I got out, and got on my knees, I was tossed in the air by a series of large waves and white waters.  My board was vertical at times.  Somehow, my kneesing skills have improved and I managed to negotiate these tosses without falling off.

By this time, I was scared.  I saw some ginormous sets coming in, and by this time, I just wanted to get back on shore and go home.  I finally managed to get outside of these large waves.

For the first time, I timed the sets on my watch to see when the calm intervals would be so I could just go back in.  I wasn't really interested in surfing these big things.  I could see them sucking the water up before they crashed. I was in scared self preservation mode to get back in through the shore break without getting slammed.

I determined by timing a few sets that the really large ones were coming in in sets of about ten, with a following large but smaller set of about four.  Then, there was a "peaceful" phase where the waves were big but manageable. These intervals allowed about twelve minutes to go back in in the "smaller" stuff.

 I didn't really notice that the proners were doing much surfing, either, they mostly just stayed outside watching this massive walled stuff going in.

I let some tsunamis roll through until the lull, and then paddled back in.  I managed to catch a standard shoulder high from way outside that shot me most of the way to shore to just outside of the shore break.  I then rode a couple of smaller shore breaks in to get onto shore without getting slammed on the reef. Whew!

Ironically, while observing on shore, the huge wave sets seemed to disappear.  There were only the "smaller" shoulder to head highs that looked pretty nice at Privates second break.  I wondered if I should be so foolish to go back out, but the sun was going down, and I decided not to. Mother Ocean gave me a reprieve and I decided not to challenge it.

The ocean can really surprise me.  I was expecting a mellow session with a few three to four footers, and the surfline stuff was only predicting small stuff.  I also don't know if I just got a fluke window of this stuff since it seemed to calm down as soon as I got out of the water.





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Me: 6'1"@230 lbs 68 years old

southwesterly

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Re: What a difference a day makes
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2015, 06:59:18 PM »
Don't forget to check the buoys before going out. Today it was 7 feet @ 19 seconds from 278 degrees. A direct hit to the eastside from the top of Pleasure Point all the way down to New Brighton.

There were some fun waves further down towards the end of the swell window.

surfercook

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Re: What a difference a day makes
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2015, 07:59:49 PM »
Cool story. Big waves are crazy! Next time take a picture please!
One could go into a mall in Kansas and ask a teenager "What is a surfer looking for?, and the answer will always be, "The perfect wave"
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surfinJ

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Re: What a difference a day makes
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2015, 12:17:44 AM »
It's funny how the view from dry land looks less threatening and more possible.
In the water mother ocean has you in her grip and other feelings can dominate.

Your spot there seems a bit hairy on a big swell. Does the inside have white water rolling up against the rocks, especially at high tide?

The session will be in your surf memories, pretty cool.

SUPcheat

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Re: What a difference a day makes
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2015, 01:35:05 AM »
Hey, Jay,

I picked the 3 foot tide mark to avoid that (tides range from plus 6 foot to negative reef exposure at low around Privates/Sharks) , but the water was still coming in below the lower shelf along Privates.  I had to jump right into the wash when I went out.

  It was dramatic crashing in along some parts of the exposed shore piles even at three feet.  High tide isn't very SUP friendly around the area unless really calm.  The bigger waves I saw just seemed to carry massive amounts of water at high speed and they were crashing like pile drivers. They were a fractional magnitude more threatening than what I have been in so far.

I had to stay far out on the ocean to keep in open swell territory.  Even some of the open swells would pick up my fins and start pushing the board toward shore.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2015, 01:41:37 AM by SUPcheat »
2013 Fanatic Prowave LTD 9'3"x30.5x@134L
Sunova Speeed 8'10"x29.12@131L
Sunova Flow 8'7"x30.25"@121L
Carbon 9.3x32@163L Hammer
Me: 6'1"@230 lbs 68 years old

 


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