THE Surf Report

Working For The Weekend.

SURF:

No exciting surf this past week- plus the water was dirty from the recent rains- so the only thing to do the past few days was Working For The Weekend surf (obscure Loverboy reference. If you've never heard the song- don't. And if you've heard it- I'm sorry). But we do have hope on the horizon- and maybe the Emergency Boardriding System could be flipped on next week- so let's get to it. For Friday, we have the back end of a cold front moving through and we're looking at small windy conditions. Saturday is cleaner but still small. 

By Sunday, we start to see a small SW/NW fill in for chest high sets BUT... we may see another weak cold front move through, so conditions could be suspect again. But at least the surf will pick up slightly. And here's the tides, sun, and water temps for the next few days:

• Sunrise and sunset for Saturday:
  • 6:03 AM sunrise  
  • 5:54 PM sunset  
• AND THEN... Daylight Saving Time hits Sunday:
• 7:01 AM sunrise
• 6:55 PM sunset. Surf until 7:15 PM?!

• Water temps are still a chilly 58 degrees.

• And tides are pretty simple again this weekend:
• 4' at sunrise
• dropping to 0' after lunch
• and 3.5' at sunset

FORECAST:

After the wind cleans up for Sunday, surf is looking pretty fun the rest of the week. Monday has a continuation of the chest high NW/SW with maybe a shoulder high set at best combo spots. 

For Tuesday, we get a reinforcement out of the SW- and a continuation out of the NW- for shoulder high surf. Time to turn on the Emergency Boardriding System! 

Wednesday though is a wildcard- we have more NW filling in for head high surf but there could also be a cold front again. Probably no rain- but more wind. The 2nd half of the week looks to have more NW for chest high surf and dying SW. 

In the long term, models are again hinting at a solid storm forming off Antarctica around the 16th and giving us good SW around the 24th. That's the third time recently it's promised solid SW so I'm a little leery. I'll keep an eye on it regardless. 

WEATHER:

As we wind down our winter, spring conditions are taking over. A weak cold front moves through tonight and we've got breezy NW winds tomorrow. Saturday is cool and sunny, then another weak front will swing through on Sunday. Monday/Tuesday is cool and sunny... then another weak front may move through on Wednesday. Basically spring conditions for the next week. As far as our rainy season goes, the storm last weekend was a doozy for Encinitas (1.5") and average for everywhere else (0.75"). Most locations along the coast in Southern California sit between 5.25" to 6.25" of rain (with a goal of 10" by September) and 65% of normal precipitation. In a normal year, we should expect at most 3" of rainfall between now and September. But since it's a La Nina season (below average), maybe 1.5" if we're lucky? If anything changes between now and then, make sure to follow North County Surf on Twitter!

BEST BET:

Midweek: Tuesday with clean conditions and fun NW/SW. Or bigger Wednesday but suspect conditions. Or... smaller Thursday but back to clean conditions. 

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

The waves off Ocean Beach San Francisco have always amazed me. As the Pic of the Week can attest, there's A LOT of weird stuff going on out there. On a big day (20'+), surfers have to deal with the shore break (duckdiving an 8' gun in 8-10' closeouts is insanity to me), then dodging 20'+ sets at a shifting beach break no less, then you've got those creepy 40'+ phantom sets a mile or so out to sea. No thanks.

The bathymetry is constantly changing do to its history. About 600,000 years ago, the Central Valley of California was one big lake called Lake Corcoran and it drained out through what is now the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The lake was roughly 12,000 to 19,000 square miles. As you can imagine, all of that water draining through the Bay made some wild sandbars, seamounts, etc. For comparison's sake, for those of you that surf the river mouth at Ponto, that lagoon is only 610 acres- roughly 1/20,000 the size. 

Even though Lake Corcoran is gone, the bathymetry remains and San Francisco Bay is still making sandbars. At 550 square miles, it's still considerably large enough to make some interesting sandbars- like the infamous Potato Patch at the mouth of the Bay- that gobbles ships like they're popcorn. One man (sane or insane- you decide) has tried to surf it, Mark 'Doc' Renneker. (read the unbelievable story here). Doc as I found out many moons ago, used to rent a place from my father-in-law in Ocean Beach. Since then, I've tried to understand what drives a person to surf such big, cold, sharky, foggy, windy, beach break. The Pulitzer Prize winning author William Finnegan wrote a great article about him, the legendary Bob Wise of Wise Surf Shop, and the other cast of characters that live, breath, and eat the terrifying surf of Ocean Beach San Francisco. Pull up a chair, grab a cold one, and enjoy the two part story here (1) and here (2).  

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Ocean Beach San Francisco. She's out of my league. 

Keep Surfing, 
Michael W. Glenn
Top Dog
Part Time Mime
Harbor Patrol Ticketed Me For Surfing Too Slow At Maalaea