Conditions were sporty in the cove, about 3-to-4 feet in rapid succession

Once grouped, we paddled behind the front reef at the point (draw a line from right field off the baseball field). The point was going off constantly with 4-to-5 foot waves washing over the reef and creating powerful currents. Usually we line up behind the reef to play in the whitewater, but none of us could hold position or successfully fight the current long enough for that.

We gradually moved down coast (east) to try out the various surf spots. There were definitely some clean well shaped waves, but the takeoff points were constantly shifting. We would watch a wave break perfectly with a nice clean shoulder, move into position for the next one, only to be disappointed by being caught inside or way out of the position. We eventually concluded that the swell was still somewhat disorganized by yesterday's strong winds, because it couldn't possibly be lack of skill on our part.

Anyway, we ended up at point Fermin park and surfed there until it was time to quit

We all caught some decent waves, some really good, but conditions were still confused. Most of the waves were 3-to-4 feet, but every once in a while a big 5-to-6 foot set would come through and just blow everything apart. I just nicked Jack when a wave I was catching closed out unexpectedly, but there were no serious collisions. There were combat rolls all around, but a few swims as well.

If you swim at Point Fermin Park, it can be a long rocky swim to shore. It's not necessarily physically long, maybe 75 meters, but it takes a long time and you can really get beat up on the way in by waves and rocks. You don't want to stand up, because there are fissures in the rock bottom with huge masses of water moving across the submerged reef. Swimming is hard because the bottom is irregular with many nasties poking above the water or hiding below. Unfortunately, assisted re-entries in the surf zone just weren't working well at all today - very chaotic, and we came close to some serious carnage several times in attempting it.

Drew took the worst swim of the day. He was trying out my Bliss (first time in a ww boat) and got back-endered by about a 5 foot wave. I saw him roll his own boat earlier, but for one reason or another he exited. Unfortunately, that five foot wave was the beginning of a large set that got even bigger. He got pummeled by wave after wave, before finally making it in. He got a bit of a charley horse on his leg from whacking a rock, but other than that he was undamaged. After thawing out for a few minutes he was right back on it.

Eventually we all got tired and headed back for some lunch. It was a fun day to be out with friends, made all the more fun by moderately challenging conditions.

Steve Brown