Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

S WIND 25 TO 30 KT. COMBINED SEAS 12 TO 14 FT. DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.

Worked a long day yesterday and pulled up to the water at about 6pm...as I expected, it wasn't looking too hot. The swell was there but the period and wind had combined to knock it down and make it a mess. Even so, I saw a brave (or foolish) individual working his way out along the cape...I looked down through the haze and saw a familiar vehicle parked at the north end. I wondered what he was seeing that I wasn't so drove over to take a look. Turns out Gaz was sitting in the truck watching the lone paddler too...we concurred that the conditions were poor and we were the wise ones to stay dry.

Later a Ranger rode by on his 4 wheeler and went up into the dunes...something I hadn't seen much. As he came back by, he pulled up to us and chatted a bit. Turns out the state had gotten the funding to add 3 rangers on the coast for beach patrol and he was checking the dunes and spit for illegal campers. Although I admit I have camped illegally myself on more than one occasion, I was happy to see him out. The impact of people on these areas is too damaging to allow it unfortunately. And the impending spring break mass migration seems to bring out the worst in people who use the beach...leaving bottles, cans and garbage on the beach.

Ranger Dave, doing his job, mentioned that technically we weren't supposed to be parked this far north on the beach. We admitted as much and assured him that had the north end been being used by the dory fleet we wouldn't, but that on a day like today it made little difference. He explained that the location was actually classified as a harbor, and we laughed about rigging a trailer for launching our surfboards...which, would technically, allow us to park as far north as we wanted.

Local Report:

friday forecasts...all seemed in line [for a] pre sojourn check...wind tide [and] swell arrived to [a]minus tide...a little lumpy [and] small...decided to check some other spots upstrait... promising but at the last spot was flat at dead low tide (not good)...drove back, surfed knee high perfection close to the short dead tree...got a couple OTL’s and a little liner...definitely disappointing...tried again today at the regular spot...paddled out, got into a couple...first a head dip at the end, a couple up and downs before the section closed down in between...then a shoulder high perfectly lined up wall that allowed me to get wound up for a nice gaff and float into the next section and another head dip into the closing section...after that it went to shit...kook patrol paddled out and I headed home. ~pro moe