Visitor from around New Zealand

The CA coastline was paid a visit by a very LARGE sized South West swell recently. That statement is actually a bit misleading in that this swell originated from a storm way down below New Zealand and actually paid a visit to much of Mainland Mexico, the Baja Peninsula, Southern CA, Northern CA and above into Oregon and Washington. So based on the extent of it's reach you can begin to understand the type of energy that was released by the storm that generated it.

Summertime is typically the doldrums for Northern CA surf community. We typically rely on short period local north west wind swell, or if we are lucky south swells originating from the southern hemisphere. And if you are really devoted and graced with an extra $4K you'll fly off to Indonesia for a 2 week boat trip and score enough perfect waves to forget about the darkest Summertime surf season. But from time to time we are graced with a significant south swell similar to what hit this past weekend.

Nowadays these events can be forecasted and planned around a week in advance. There are a multitude of forecast websites one can check to track these swells (I particularly like StormSurf). Technology has really lent itself well to the surf community. Log-on, read and plan accordingly. Exactly what I started doing on 07/17.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP... BEEP, BEEP, BEEP... CLICK!

Off with the alarm clock at 5:30am saturday morning 07/24. Gotta get a jump on the day and begin scoping the coastline. My itinerary will have me traveling south toward Santa Cruz stopping every so often to check each nook and cranny the coastline has on offer for this particular swell. Oh and by the way, I've got 6.5 hours to complete this mission - remember I am a Dad. Get down south, find a good break, swim out, snap a few pics (or just paddle out and surf), hightail it back north in time to take over for my wife, have lunch with my daughter and take her to the park.

Long story short, made the trip south and scoped all the spots which resulted in absolutely zilch. Didn't get wet or snap even one pic. The swell was showing, guys were in the water but the waves were just not working that well in the spots I checked. The moral of the story, no matter how good the technology, no matter how "accurate" the forecast, you are never guaranteed that our beautiful CA coastline will cooperate. Don't get me wrong, just down the road in Santa Cruz people scored great waves. I was just not in the right place right time.

Some might think that I'd be bitter by the turn of events above, hardly. Not the first time. Don't they say it's not all about the Destination, it's about the Journey. I think so. Besides I'm already planning where my next itinerary will take me during the next BIG south swell. There is a lot of intriguing coastline north of San Francisco.

Here are some interesting links documenting the 2009 Mega South Swell:

Video footage of Santa Cruz

Mega South Swell Write-up

Video footage of the WEDGE

Article on death of body surfer at the WEDGE

Article on Puerto Escondido, Mexico