North County New Business News: The Return of Three's Company

One of the greatest sitcoms of all time- no- make that the greatest show of all time was Three's Company. Everyone from Jack to Chrissy to Janet to Mr. Furley to Mr. and Mrs. Roper and everyone else I forgot made that show an absolute laugh riot. So much better than What's Happening! Except for Rerun.

Anyway, if you'll remember, the local pub was the Regal Beagle and Jack's good friend (or partner in crime) Larry created more problems than they could handle there. Luckily for us, a couple lads in San Diego have re-created the best of the Regal Beagle (good food, drink, and friends) in Mission Hills. So what does this have to do with North County?!

An Encinitas family has partnered with the Regal Beagle and will be opening the Regal Seagull (catchy, huh?) just north of Surfy Surfy/Cafe Ipe in Leucadia. It's in the previous Leucadia Sushi Bar location. Rumor has it the food will consist of a wide variety of sausages (what?! Not another Mexican food joint?!) and all kinds of micro brews. Don't worry- if you must have a burger, they have those too as well as mac and cheese all the way down to hummus. Sounds like a good place to hang out on a summer day.

Lucky for us, the goal is to open by mid-February and the North County Surf blog will have a full report on the grand opening. My goal is to eat one of everything that night and report back to you in a bloated haze. Stay tuned.

North County News: Solved Mysteries

Back in March the North County Surf blog started to report on the tunnel they were making under the train tracks across the street from Swami's. Seems as though 20 parking spots at the Swami's parking lot wasn't big enough for the 300 surfers that frequent the spot everyday so everyone was parking across the street (near Santa Fe Dr.) and running across the train tracks. Not smart. So a tunnel has been built and it's almost time to start using it. But I couldn't figure out that once you went under the tunnel and were standing on Highway 101, ready to cross the street to Swami's, how the heck were you going to get across safely?

Well the mystery has been solved- the city is putting in a street light and crosswalk. Personally, I thought they were just going to put a crosswalk in. Not smart on my part. A full blown street light was the answer. Looks like they're pretty close to finishing the tunnel and street lights so I'm assuming it will be up and running next month- just in time for the next big swell.

And the construction at Moonlight Beach continues. The North County Surf blog has had a few stories over the past year or so about the changes coming to Moonlight Beach. You can see the progress here back in October '11, August '12, and October '12. Looks like they've finally got2 of the 3 structures up: The lifeguard parking garage/lookout platform, and the...

 

bathrooms and food concession stands (which rumor has it will also rent bikes, surfboards, etc).

The 3rd and final structure will be the new and improved lifeguard tower itself. Of course all of these structures will need to be painted, lights installed, etc. but it looks like they're moving along and should be open by summer. Moonlight is a great beach and the hub of Encinitas so it's long overdue. Make sure to check back later this spring for more updates.

Surf Check

Been some fun surf the past few days. Had a lot of SW wind junk on Sunday but building NW swell. Then we got a clean little window on Monday morning but the surf was lumpy from the day before- and then the NW wind kicked in. Today we had more manageable winds but dropping surf from the NW and a touch of small background SW. Looks like our surf will continue to drop through Saturday unfortunately.

On the flip side, high pressure is in control and we have great weather lining up the next few days. Temps at the beach should hit 70 by Friday and the morning lows around 50. Just some high clouds overhead and no rain for at least the next 5 days. After that, the models are a little confused but we may have a chance of rain early next week if everything pans out.

If that supposed rain does pan out, that means there must be storms on the horizon. Models show new NW filling in on Sunday for head high+ surf in north county SD and overhead sets in south SD. The OC is partially blocked (as usual) from the offshore islands. That will last into Tuesday. The 2nd half of next week we should have smaller surf again.

Further out we have another storm trying to form off Japan and if that one holds together, we should get more surf towards next weekend.

Water temps are still chilly but getting back to normal for winter- hovering right around 57 degrees. And the tides the next few days are about 2' at sunrise, up to 5' mid-morning, and down to 0' at sunset. Have a good week everyone and get ready for some more surf late this weekend!

THE Surf Report

Jambalaya

SURF:

Got a little bit of everything this weekend- it must be winter. New NW swell peaked last night and we've got some head high waves this morning with overhead+ sets in San Diego. Central OC is partially blocked by the offshore islands (as is typical this time of year) and only has some waist high waves. There's actually some small waist high background SW swell but it's getting lost in the bigger NW swell. We also have some clouds overhead with showers off and on today but the wind isn't too bad. Tomorrow we should have a little more sun and a little less surf.

By Sunday morning we have a new NW showing up for head high waves but a new cold low pressure coming though. Argh! So we get some more waves on Sunday but junky weather. Water temps are still a chilly 55 degrees.

Tides the next few days are 6' at 8am, going down to -1' at 3pm, then back up to 2' at sunset. Make sure to keep up to date on the waves/weather at Twitter/North County Surf.

FORECAST:

After the mixed bag of swell this weekend, we have some leftover NW on Monday. Then... nothing. Charts don't show anything of significance out there- either from the Aleutians, Antarctica, tropics, or Pt. Conception. Long story short- it's looking pretty small next week and nothing on the horizon for the short term.

WEATHER:



We had a storm from the Aleutians move down the Pacific the last few days and never really came on shore. In the meantime, it sucked in some tropical moisture and the last few days we've had some light soggy showers and fairly warm air temperatures. That departs tonight and we'll have some partly sunny cool conditions tomorrow. Next up is a small storm coming down from the Aleutians again and we'll get a shot at showers late Saturday into Sunday. No real rain from it but it will be colder than the current storm. After that we have some nice cool conditions for the first part of the week then models show maybe a weak cold front coming down the middle of the week- but it's only a 50/50 proposition at this point.

BEST BET:
Today! Maybe not the cleanliest/sunniest conditions, but we do have good swell. And considering that Sunday's swell will be a little more junky AND it's looking small next week... get on it ASAP!

NEWS OF THE WEEK:



Great surf last week from the aptly named 'Japan' swell. If you got some waves last week you probably noticed it was pretty inconsistent. This wasn't due to the wind starting and stopping during the formation of the storm, but rather the distance away from us that the storm formed. How far away was that storm? Japan of course. But why is windswell that forms off Pt. Conception so consistent and groundswell from a storm that forms off Japan (or New Zealand for that matter) so bloody INCONSISTENT?! It boils down to what I call 'Surfival of the Fittest'. (Catchy, huh)? Basically larger waves have more energy and travel faster. So during the formation of a storm the larger waves start to separate from the smaller ones. Kind of like a race; in the case of the 'Japan' swell, a 3,000 mile marathon. So what happened to the smaller 'windswell' type waves? Well, there's not a lot of energy associated with them, so they tend to fall apart before they get here. In the case of 'windswell' that forms off Pt. Conception, it's only traveling a couple hundred miles and doesn't have time to fall apart much, hence the short period waves we get from that source survive. On a side note, I generally tend to think of 'windswell' and 'groundswell' based on their wave period (wave period of course is the amount of time it takes single waves to pass a fixed spot- like a buoy). So consistent short period windswell I like to think of having a period of less than 12 seconds. And groundswell 13 seconds and above. So if you pay attention to the buoys at all, you can actually tell if a new swell is building, how consistent it is, etc. In the case of the 'Japan' swell last week, we had a few small days of small short period swell in the 12 second range before the 'Japan' swell arrived. Then the new 'Japan' swell started to hit our offshore buoys with a period of 25 seconds and BAM! I knew it was game on! 

BEST OF THE BLOG:

More signs the recession is over- Buffalo Wild Wings is coming to Encinitas! Ah, I can smell the grease now. Guess where I'll be during the Super Bowl? Check out all the news that's fit to print and of course a mid-week Surf Check AND an in-depth THE Surf Report. All of that and more in the blog below!

PIC OF THE WEEK:

It's amazing what Photoshop can do. Take for example today's 'Pic of the Week'. Those lefts are really only 2' but Photoshop made them look bigger. They even Photoshopped all the guys out of the line up. And those quaint boats in that little harbor? Fake. And that man-made road to the island? Used to be a bridge. All lies I tell you. Good luck finding this place. Doesn't really exist.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Man of the Hour
Tax Free
Inventor of the Wipeout

North County Business News: From a Bull To A Buffalo

VS.

 

One animal with horns has vacated the building and a new one with horns is calling it home.

I'm talking about the old El Torito building in the Encinitas Ranch Center. Which was formerly a Chesapeake Bar and Grill and some American/Japanese futuristic fusion thing about 10 years ago. As reported by the North County Surf blog back in March, the best thing for that spot would have been some sort of brewery like Pizza Port, Karl Strauss, or a...

Stone Brewery since we already have enough Mexican restaraunts, Italian joints, and Islands/Chili's/Souplantions nearby. There were some rumors that Yardhouse was making a bid on that place but alas it fell through.

 

So my dream of beer coming to that building IS coming true- just without the gourmet food. So in comes the hot new thing to hit dining: Buffalo Wild Wings (move over Chic-Fil-A. Remember when Krispy Kreme was all the rage)? Now don't get me wrong, from what I've seen on the menu at Buffalo Wild Wings, it's got great burgers, appetizers and um, wings. But it just reminds me of Hooters without the Hooters (can't believe I just said that). Will I frequent the establishment? Of course I will. And I have to admit we're fortunate that the New Encinitas business district has 1 of everything (from Best Buy to Target to Wal Mart to Sports Authority to Apple to Big Lots to Home Depot to McDonalds to Chili's to Islands to Souplantation to Chipotle to Taco Bell- you get the picture) so there's not much left to fill the old Torito spot- the recession is killing businesses faster than we can replace them. But Buffalo Wild Wings?! Maybe having a beer right now will ease my fears.

Surf Check

 

Another beautiful day. But it will end soon. More on that below. But first up- we still have fun clean surf out there!

Our long period, and inconsistent, NW groundswell from Japan has been slowly winding down but we still have some shoulder high sets out there and it's a little lined-up. Make sure to hit the reefs, points, piers, or jetties for a little shape. Tomorrow looks to be a little smaller but you'll probably find some chest high waves in SD. Luckily for us we have some storms out in the Pacific and it's sending a couple swells our way.

The next swell is slated for Thursday morning and we'll have some head high sets. And luckily for us it formed a little closer than the current 'Japan' swell so it will be more consistent for us. That lasts into Friday. Then we get a slight break and another swell is due for Saturday afternoon- about the same size as this Thursday's new swell. All of that is good news of course BUT... we have a little weather coming our way.

Nothing drastic- and we do need the rain- but the calm winds and sunny skies will start to go away on Thursday. By Friday we have a shot at light showers and by Sunday we have a better chance at rain. All in all nothing too wet or strong but it will be a 180 of the current weather we have. After that it looks like we take a breather for early next week and then charts show another swell for late in the week.

Tides the next few days are 5' at sunrise, down to 0' at 1:30 in the afternoon, and up to 2' at sunset. And with all the nice weather lately, the water temps have been trying to rebound slightly. It's still cold but up to 56 degrees. Not time to start wearing boardshorts yet...

THE Surf Report

This seems like an eternity.

SURF:
Boy has it been flat around here lately. Had some fun surf last weekend then it steadily dropped all week. By Tuesday it was pretty darn small and yesterday was just plain flat. How small was it? Even a SUP wouldn't paddle out.

Today is no different. Just one big flat ocean out there. Good news is that the weather is perfect. Makes those 30 degree temperature readings earlier in the week seem like eons ago. The flat spell will last another couple days unfortunately but we do have some swell showing up for Sunday. And maybe if your lucky, some inconsistent sets towards sunset on Saturday. But don't hold your breath. This new swell was made by a big storm off Japan earlier in the week but it broke apart about 1/2 way out in the Pacific. So we'll get swell from it albeit inconsistent. Look for some overhead sets on Sunday and holding into Monday. South SD should be a few feet overhead. And the OC will mostly be blocked by the offshore islands. Sorry. The great weather will hold though for everyone. Back to the new swell though- it's a long period swell and will be lined up- best bet is a reef or point. All in all though some fun surf on Sunday and great weather. Water temps are still a chilly 54 degrees.

Tides the next few days are 3' at sunrise, going down to 1' mid-morning, then back up to 3' mid-afternoon, then down to 1' again at sunset- pretty mellow.  Make sure to keep up to date on the waves/weather at Twitter/North County Surf.

FORECAST:

After some solid long period swell on Sunday, the waves keep rolling into Monday. By Tuesday it drops off into the shoulder high range in south SD. Wednesday morning looks small but another long period swell shows for Thursday morning. We should see some shoulder high sets around town and head high+ waves in south SD. And the weather will continue to be decent. More on that below...

WEATHER:

Been an interesting 'rainy' season so far. Had a little rain in October/November then the 2nd half of December into January  have been pretty dry. Then you throw in the unbelievably cold air temps last week and it's been unique around here to say the least. Models show just minor fluctuations in our high pressure for the coming 7-10 days which means... nice weather for the foreseeable future... and no rain. Look for great beach weather this weekend- in January no less- with air temps in the low 70's. That should last into the middle of the work week then high pressure may start to weaken slightly for some clouds next weekend- and beyond that (towards the end of the month) we may be setting up for a rainy period again.

BEST BET:
Beach temps in the low 70's and new solid NW groundswell- can't beat Sunday. Next Thursday is looking pretty good though too with another good SW swell (not as big though) and mild weather.

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Australia is a pretty amazing place- the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef, world class waves, Parko's style, heck- they even have kangaroos as pets. One small downside though- no, make that one major downside- is the box jellyfish. They may not look dangerous, but the sting from a box jellyfish could be enough to send you to Davy Jones's locker. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have put together a cool little piece on these buggers showing just how deadly these creatures are:

Box jellyfish, named for their body shape, have tentacles covered in biological booby traps known as nematocysts—tiny darts loaded with poison. People and animals unfortunate enough to be injected with this poison may experience paralysis, cardiac arrest, and even death, all within a few minutes of being stung. But don’t choose the mountains over the ocean just yet. Of the 50 or so species of box jellyfish, also called sea wasps, only a few have venom that can be lethal to humans. While box jellyfish are found in warm coastal waters around the world, the lethal varieties are found primarily in the Indo-Pacific region and northern Australia. This includes the Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), considered the most venomous marine animal. Chironex fleckeri is the largest of the box jellyfish, with body sizes reaching up to one foot in diameter and thick, bootlace-like tentacles up to 10 feet long. Box jellyfish have traits that set them apart from other jellyfish. Most notably, box jellyfish can swim—at maximum speeds approaching four knots—whereas most species of jellyfish float wherever the current takes them, with little control over their direction. Box jellyfish can also see. They have clusters of eyes on each side of the box. Some of these eyes are surprisingly sophisticated, with a lens and cornea, an iris that can contract in bright light, and a retina. Their speed and vision leads some researchers to believe that box jellyfish actively hunt their prey, mainly shrimp and small fish.

In conclusion- they are one of the most deadly animals on earth, they can see you, and they can swim. Great.

BEST OF THE BLOG:

What to do when the surf is flat? Watch surf videos of course. Nothing like getting you amped for nothing. The North County Surf blog this week has been keep tracking of the pros in the 'offseason' with clips of John John, Dane, Taj, Parko, and Julian. And since we have surf coming, you better have your stick, fullsuit, and accessories ready- so check out the deals on new 4/3's from Xcel, Channel Islands on the cheap, and inexpensive Creatures of Leisure's accessories. And of course a mid-week Surf Check and an in-depth THE Surf Report - all of that and more in the blog below!  

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Do you paddle out? Or do you sit in your warm car with a hot cup of java in your hand and mindsurf it? Of course you paddle out! Just make sure you have good health care coverage for your frostbite.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Conqueror
The Real Manti Te'o
Alternate to the Eddie Alternates

Deal Alert! Surf is Coming!

We've finally got some swell coming this weekend so I thought it was the perfect time to break out some deals and get you into some new surf gear. The crew at Seshday have loaded up on new boards, wetsuits, traction pads, and bags. And as always, it's cheap. Like the 6'1" Flyer above. Normally over $750 at retail, this top of the line board is just $459. While supplies last of course. The Flyer is the most popular shortboard in the Channel Islands line. This board excels in small to medium surf but still rides and responds like a conventional shortboard. Al considers this the best small wave shortboard he has ever designed. It should be ridden 2" to 3" shorter and 1/4" to 1/2" wider than your normal shortboard. For the surfer who wants to maintain the same speed and maneuverability you have on your shortboard in good waves but when the surf is small.

Features:

• Board Nose Width 11.5"
• Board Width 18.75"
• Board Tail Width 14.5"
• Board Thick 2.25"
• Board Volume 27 ccm
• Board Construction: Tuflite
• Board Fin System: FCS fins included

Of course you're going to need some traction on that bad boy if you're serious about landing some reverse airs. Ok, so no amount of traction is going to help YOU land a reverse air, but you still need traction nonetheless. Seshday has heaps of Creatures of Leisure pads on sale at a low price of $16.95- well over 50% off retail. The pad above is from Maui local and World Tour eye opener Dusty Payne.

 

Features: 

• HI-LO TRACTION DESIGN
• Ultra thin pad base
• Big kick with bevelled sides
• 3M adhesive backing
• VIVID COLOUR handcut patterns

But what good is having a solid board and new traction if you're freezing your arse off?! It's time to put that old 3/2 with holes out of it's misery. Seshday has top of the line Xcel 4/3 fullsuits on sale for $199. Yes- I said new 4/3's at $199. Solid. With unattached zipper flaps and extra-wide crossover neck entry, the Xcel X-Zip is the easiest on/off front entry fullsuit in the XCEL line.

Features:

• X-Zip System features a water-resistant interlock zipper and Smooth Skin elastic shoulder hems along zipper flap edges for a contoured flexible seal.
• Overlapping inner front and back crossover neck panels for a durable, easy on/off solution
• Inner geometric Taitex ankle seals grip and seal.
• ThermoCarbon inner chest and lower body
• Wind-resistant Texture Skin outer chest
• Durable, contoured, 4-Way stretch DuraFlex knee panels
• 100% UltraStretch
• Upper body Fusion Seam Technology
• Durable Pressure Bonded taped seams in the lower body
• All seams are contoured to maximize flexibility and comfort.

Now that you've got that new stick under your arms, how are you going to protect it? As rumor has it, the late great Mark Foo said "Board rides shotgun and chicks that don't like don't ride". If your chick doesn't agree, 2nd best thing to protect your Merrick on the way to the beach is the Creatures of Leisure Day Use Boardbag. Normally $84, Seshday's got 'em for $37.95.

 

Features: 

• 5mm closed cell padding
• 600 denier and heat reflective silver poly fabric
• STASH STRAP
• padded carry handle
• 7'1' length

So there you have it. Solid swell coming this weekend and a new Channel Islands, 4/3 Xcel, and Creatures of Leisure boardbag and traction- all on sale. You can thank me later by giving me a couple set waves on Sunday.

Clips of the Day: The Offseason

So what have all the pros been up to in the 'offseason'? Well, the Billabong Pipe contest ended back at the end of December and the Quik Pro doesn't start until early March down on the Gold Coast; so what's a pro to do with all this down time? Get arrested? No! Sign some new contracts and create web clips of course! You don't have much time for 'business' when you're running around the world chasing a 8.5 in the dying minutes of a heat. By now you've probably heard John John Florence's contract ended with O'Neill recently and Nike, err, Hurley picked him up for a few million a year (and to think, back in the day Tom Carroll's Quiksilver contract was a million dollars total for something like 5 years). Kids got it good nowadays. To celebrate all that moolah, Hurley has put together a cool little John John history lesson. The final turn he does on the clip is legendary- one of the biggest cleanest rotations you'll ever see. Not sure how guys in the future are going to top that turn.

Dane of course is always in the 'offseason' (actually his offseason is when a sponsor offers him a wild card into an event). Anyway, the clip above is Dane Reynolds and Taj Burrow from last summer, just before the US Open madness, and Dane's crew just got the editing down and posted the clip recently. Story goes something like this- Taj calls up Dane and says let's get some surf before I have to kiss hands and shake babies (or something like that) at the US Open. Dane says let's surf Lowers. Taj says let's surf that jetty down the street from your house. Dane says it's going to suck, Taj says I don't care. After watching the clip- both were right; the surf sucked but Taj and Dane killed it. The only guy who can surf crap better than that is probably Slater. Long story short, Taj gave in and surfed Lowers the next day with Dane.

And for the boy who would be king, Julian Wilson, he's put together a clip of some of his best turns during his 2012 freesurf sessions. You can view the video here. Basically his trip to Indo last year is one big mind bender. His surfing was definitely on par with John John's and Dane's last year during this trip.

 

And last but not least, a clip from the 2012 World Champ, Kelly Sla... What?! He didn't win? Parko did finally? About time. Hailing from the Gold Coast of Australia, dubbed the best surfer to never win a world title (Taj now owns that distinction), Joel Parkinson has put together a highlight reel showing how he won the title last year. Joel was on fire- never getting worse than a quarterfinal finish and topping it off with a win at the Pipe Masters. Pretty impressive.

So there you have it. Some of the best new clips on the web to get you amped to surf. Except the surf has been flat lately. Go figure. Better go take a cold shower.