Standup Zone Forum
Stand Up Paddle => SUP General => Topic started by: lopezwill on May 14, 2018, 02:40:19 PM
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It's always interesting to find out how your sup surfing location did this last fall and winter? I live near Pismo Beach, Ca. This winter was warmer and milder than most with nice weather during most of fall and early winter. Surf stayed smaller than usual I would say. Only a few large swell events really. A few locations that handled smaller surf and break well with steeper north swells were very good.
I asked the same question to some of my proner friends and we all agreed this was sort of a crappy winter for surf? On a positive note the beach breaks (which typically close out all winter due to large unruly surf) stayed surfable and fun mostly all through the winter. 8)
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Kinda sucked. When we had big surf it was blown out, when we had big wing the ground swell was too big for geezers to do Maliko runs. This geezer anyway. Thank the Laird for foils. Or maybe better thank the Alex and the Dave and the Kai.
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Sucked for SC, everywhere around us (Florida, NE, etc.) had the greatest winter ever, not so much for us.
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I feel kind of lucky since my "learning curve" years from Sep. 2013 were pretty consistent, allowing me to go out and find waves around Santa Cruz two to four days a week for a couple of years.
Waves seemed good until Thanksgiving 2016. Then, perpetual storms came, flat, foggy summer, lackluster fall, tossy winter again. I have only been getting an average of about two or maybe three days every other week or so since then. Sometimes, it is just that I am not in SC when conditions are good, but it seems generally that the wave gods have not been generous for a while like they used to be.
I had two nice days this last week, though. I actually caught some waves yesterday at Pleasure Point, in spite of the typical crowded circus, so maybe my Pleasure Point curse is lifted.
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Winter only ended like two weeks ago…
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Sucked cause I didn't get out much. Cape looked good from the pics I saw.... >:(. I had a few standout sessions that were special because they were at my new local.
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Central Coast California. When your first thoughts when you wake up are is this a tennis or biking day, you know the surf has been sucky.
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I hate South wind!!!!
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Lousy I guess. But that does sound spoiled as it not a problem for most.
While there was lots of swell, the wind patterns seem to changing. I’ve been here for 25yrs and the old days of clearly defined wind/rain have given over to vague bad weather stretched out the whole winter with single days of offshores.
This is the other morning. For six hours in a twenty day period the surf gods threw the switch.
https://vimeo.com/269354678
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Most in San Diego will say the worst winter ever. Winter is usually our best season with most surfable days and our occational big days. We did have some surfable days, but not close to as many as usual and we had NO big days.
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Slightly different story for me....rather reflection....for me. Since moving back to Middletown full-time (last August) Ive gotten in the water several times each of the last 10 months. One of my goals I often thought early on when going thru the pros/cons of moving back to RI about was becoming a "year round surfer"...a huge Pro for me. Yeah, each of the last several months have been pretty brutal at times but each month also had its share of little to no wind, super fun knee-stomach waves, and decent air temps. Even in the coldest months I got out a couple of times a month and never got cold. I feel blessed I can jump in the truck and drive 5 mins to the beach whenever the conditions are good as opposed to hoping the weekends are good. With warmer air/water temps coming in here's hoping the wave God's keep a decent supply of waves to scratch the itch a few times a week thru the summer and fall!
Hope everyone has an awesome Spring!!!!!!!!
As away, looking forward to pics, vid's and session reports!
8) 8) 8)
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I mastered flat water paddling my 7'7" this winter in LA. Mostly knee slappers like this...
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I’d rate it a 10 for Florida and the Caribbean. Some of the best surf I can remember and lots of it. Some days the east coast was firing from Maine to Trinidad...
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I was talking to my PT guy about surfing (he is a mostly a windsurfer) and he thought it was the worst year ever. And his friends agreed with him as they were relived previous years surf conditions via videos they had made of each other, as there was no surf that day.
For my part I'd say it was pretty sucky overall. Seemed the wind was howling on days with marginal surf height which killed the take off where you need every bit of speed to catch a mushy shoulder. But I also was not able to surf as many days either. But I still checked the surf on cam or in person most days and my overall impresssion was, I did not miss much this year.
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Worst winter ever in north OC. We've had very few swells since November and those we got have been windy and lumpy.
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Up here in NorCal, well, as for surfing, I think the previous five years of drought were awesome - sunnier,
warmer, and still - no or light wind.
This last year, not so much. The weather seemed to revert (somewhat) back to
the pre-drought normal. So, more rainy and more windy - both poor for SUP surfing.
The problem with rain up here is that you really better wait a day or two after it rains
before going into the water. We had a recent month where it would rain pretty good
one night, every few days.
A month ago, I was telling a buddy of mine that I was probably surfing about 1/3rd
less than during the drought. Still, a lot of good days.
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I guess it all depends on who you ask. If you are a big wave charger, you’d be bummed out by this winter size wise. If you are a standie like myself, someone with high hopes and low expectations, it couldn’t have been any better. But, I've always been a glass-half-full kinda guy. There were few, if any, non-surfable days around here at Pleasure Point and the beaches south of town.
I added hundreds, if not thousands of waves to my permanent record over the winter.
So, I've got that going for me.
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In the interests of FACTFULNESS I just took a look at the data :o
The results. Best Year Ever in Northern California.
I have been counting every wave and subjectively rating every sessions "Fun" from 1 to 10 since December 2012. This had a the highest "Fun" rating of any year in the past 7 despite having the LOWEST Wave count per hour. This was definitely influenced by the FOIL but the facts are the facts.
Here is how the data played out.
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In the interests of FACTFULNESS I just took a look at the data :o
Hans would be proud.
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i live in norcal and had the best winter/spring ever! i went to costa rica twice, el salvador and bali. so nice to hear when i got back each trip how i missed nothing.
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Worst winter ever in NH of the five years I've been doing this.
So far, spring hasn't been that great either.
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I admit that taking up foiling could provide some "condition insurance", since high tide and shallow swells can become assets.
With my luck, I would try foiling and wind up in the hospital. I think if I ever do foiling, it will be with pro lessons first, unlike my self taught SUP journey.
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i live in norcal and had the best winter/spring ever! i went to costa rica twice, el salvador and bali. so nice to hear when i got back each trip how i missed nothing.
I probably found your response funnier than I should! :)
My friends and I found that it was a tough winter for surfing in Ventura. It was either flat or when there were waves, there was smoke in the air from the fires or the water was brown from the Santa Barbara Mudslides. Spring has been kinder so far...
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jan-march in western LI was excellent
got a few solid sessions in RI through there as well
april and may about avg
tho ok as i got 7 days of excellent waves in CR a few weeks ago
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I used a different scale than swell size ;D
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North Shore Oahu wasn't nearly as good as last year in my book. A lot more stormy days and choppy conditions. Still had a lot of fun though, better than some of those winters where its non-stop monster swells.
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The 7 to 10 years are great in retrospect, but when you're doing them, every day feels like you might be in over your head, like maybe three times over your head. I'll take small 3 to 5 and glassy any day. But it has to really be chree to fi', like Hawaiian Chree to fi. This winter we didn't even have that.
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The 7 to 10 years are great in retrospect, but when you're doing them, every day feels like you might be in over your head, like maybe three times over your head. I'll take small 3 to 5 and glassy any day. But it has to really be chree to fi', like Hawaiian Chree to fi. This winter we didn't even have that.
Yeah, my definition of good has shifted over the years. I lost a lot of interest in big wave surfing once I got married and had kids. Conditions have to be just right for me to go big anymore. It's something I have to work hard at and I just don't have the time anymore. These days *my* North Shore is made up of the less well known, less consistent breaks that need everything to line up just right. NW 3.5 ft 14s with light winds and I'm in heaven. Had plenty of that last year, not quite as much this year.
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Winter here in NJ was pretty decent on sup, especially considering I schmooted my kidney in mid December and was benched for 20 days. A few days I also got out on a regular board. These are all different days in this collage. missing a few days when I didn't cam up.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/959/42125890822_5b489d92a4_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/27bwcGs)Winter-2017-18_Text (https://flic.kr/p/27bwcGs) by surfercook (https://www.flickr.com/photos/42058618@N05/), on Flickr
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Cookie
I love the last photo.....it looks like you are cranking out some heavy riff on your guitar!!
Bob
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My memory was this winter was not great for surfing or flat water. Too many violent storms and an early freeze.
However, I record every session on my Garmin to monitor my post SCA heart performance.
November was really good with 18 sessions.
December decent with 8. Christmas Eve in RI was special. Tree on the beach and surfing with friends.
January only 1. Too many NE storms with crazy winds from the NE followed by crazy NW winds. Windsurfers and liters maybe.
February 8. Stormy as well.
March 10. Cleaner.
Pray for surf!
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Thought I might see ya this afternoon Big.....post rain was clean and crazy fun thigh to stomach. Just me and about 7 proners all sharing the stoke. 8) 8)
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We had glassy perfection on Northern Cape Cod today!
Glad you got some !
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We had glassy perfection on Northern Cape Cod today!
Glad you got some !
Glassy perfection? Remind me again what that is.