THE Surf Report- Early Edition- 9/13/12

Better early then never.

SURF:
Still waiting for something exciting to happen. Last few days have had a little SW swell running and overcast conditions at the beaches. I guess you need to be careful what you ask for- with the forecasted El Nino this winter, I could see more action than I want. But back to the present:

We had a little SW swell fill in yesterday for waist high+ waves in SD county and chest high+ surf in the OC. That holds tomorrow and Saturday/Sunday looks to be in the knee to waist high range in SD and maybe a bigger inconsistent set in the OC.  AND the beaches may have some low clouds hanging around all day (more on that below). All in all, kind of a boring weekend. The water is still nice though and holding at 70.

Tides the next few days are 4' at sunrise peaking to 5.5' mid-morning, dropping to 1' mid-afternoon, and coming back up to 5' at sunset. Make sure to keep up to date on the waves and weather at Twitter/North County Surf. 

FORECAST:

Nothing really major on the charts (again). We have little blips on the radar though- a little bump in the SW towards Monday and another one starting towards the 25th and lasting a few days. I'm hoping this swell on the 25th is better than expected and we get some head high+ surf around here. The tropics are active but the storms aren't that impressive.

Currently tropical storm Kristy is in our window and churning off Baja- but winds are only forecasted to hit 50mph- not much of a surf generator. There's 2 more areas of clouds out there trying to organize but if something does happen- they'll be half way to Hawaii by then. Wish I had better news for ya.

WEATHER:

Fun weather we had last Sunday- a big surge in monsoonal clouds gave us rain in SD county and some heavy downpours in parts of the OC. This weekend though, high pressure is forecasted to build tomorrow and make temperatures near 90 about a mile from the beach BUT... the low clouds may get trapped under the high and keep the beaches cloudy. It may be touch and go with the clouds this weekend- they could break up for great weather or they could stick around like they did today and make a total buzz kill down there. I'm hoping for sun.

BEST BET:
Not much to choose from- I'm hoping the clouds break up at the beach tomorrow for temps in the mid-80's and sunshine as well as leftover fun SW swell.

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

The last 5 years has seen some amazing technology with the oceans and waves. From the Poseidon project in Carlsbad for desalinated water that will supply over 100,000 households yearly, to advancements in artificial reefs, to Kelly Slater and Greg Webber's wave pool technologies. Now comes the first tidal energy source in the US. CNBC carried the story today and gave the lowdown:

PORTLAND, Maine - A tidal power project at the nation's eastern tip has delivered electricity to the power grid for the first time in the U.S. Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. confirmed Thursday that Ocean Renewable Power Co.'s first underwater turbine is delivering to the grid the first commercially produced tidal power. It's a modest start. Ocean Renewable spokeswoman Susy Kist says the first unit underwater turbine unit, installed in July in Cobscook Bay, produces enough electricity for 25 to 30 homes. Two more will come online next year. All told, the company sees up to 50 megawatts of tidal power potential off Lubec and Eastport, home to one of the world's best tidal sites, where the tide rises and falls 20 feet twice a day.
Just think- the ocean can solve our dependency on oil, freshwater shortfalls, and heal itself from overcrowded line-ups!

BEST OF THE BLOG:

Some trash and treasure on the North County Surf Blog this week. First up is the 'dump' the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy found the marshes recently. Seems as though the old timers were dumping their tires, car engines, water heaters, you name it. Careful the next time you're bottom turning at Cardiff- you make break your fin off on a submerged water heater. On the opposite end of the spectrum is deals on the blog- from surfboards to sandals to headphones. And of course a mid-week Surf Check and an in depth THE Surf Report. All of that and morin the blog below!

PIC OF THE WEEK:

How many more good shots can Aaron Chang take? With an iconic history of surf photography that's spanned 85 years (just kidding Aaron) he's got more than enough shots to fill up 100 terabytes worth of data (and I'm probably underestimating). If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the Pic of the Week is worth at least a thousand dollars for that lucky stiff. Check out more of Aaron's work here. 

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
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