Winter swell

Sunset Cliffs - Saturday morning

After 10 years of surfing in San Diego County I learned to be cautious when it comes to surf forecasts. It is extremely rare to have clean DOH surf here. Tides, winds and swell angles usually play a major role in interfering with the predicted "wave size". I've rarely seen all these factors getting along to deliver the "perfect wave". The hype was extremely high for the first legitimate swell of the winter season and I knew it was going to be packed. At the Cliffs waves turned out to be 2/3 feet over-head at best, with strong off-shores already blowing at dawn. It was cold and unpleasant; we waited for the biggest sets to come through but a fast upcoming tide affected the power and the shape of the wave. It also got too crowded too fast. Most of the guys out couldn't surf much and they became a nuisance, jamming the line up or paddling in mass for the same wave. We never had those clean-up sets that usually help thinning out the main peak. Travis and I paddled out at 6:15 Am but the inside was really disorganized while the outer right-hander was mostly closing out for the first hour. I guess there was too much "west" in the swell direction and the reef was not working well. "Subs" turned out not to be that great of a choice, but it's hard to decide where to paddle when you are standing in a dark parking lot! We surfed for about 2 hours; we caught a few decent ones but I ended up dropping on more close-outs than anything else... after all I was disappointed in the way I surfed. I really get affected by people paddling for the same wave. There was a girl on a hybrid board who was bobbing around the peak. She managed to make it to the line up but she could barely paddle, legs spread wide open and bugged-eyes most of the time. It's mind-blowing how some people decide to go surfing in conditions way above their skills.
I was planning to go surf on Sunday morning but weather turned nasty overnight, delivering unsurfable conditions all day long. More surf on the way though...