September 5, 2008 Friday

Marin County to Pacifica	Fort Cronkhite, Linda Mar & Sloat Ave
Sunny, hot, heat wave	Huge beautiful waves

http://gallery.me.com/lorenlmoore1

Today was a spectacular day for surfing: a three-foot seventeen-second south swell combined with a six foot nine second NW swell on a hot, sunny, heat-wave day with no wind, creating glassy smooth conditions and bright blue-green seas. These conditions lasted all day. I traveled to Fort Cronkhite in Marin and Linda Mar in Pacifica in the morning and stopped at Sloat Avenue at Ocean Beach in the afternoon. I took over 140 photos and edited them down to 87. Above is a link to my photo album.

• Images 3618 to 3687 are Fort Cronkhite between 8:00 to 9:00 am.

• Images 3695 to 3743 are Sloat Ave at Ocean Beach between 3:00 to 4:00 pm.

Fort Cronkhite

To take advantage of the good south swell and to meet my old work buddies for lunch in Foster City, I decided to head south to surf in the morning. Nate one of the owners of the Proof Lab surf shop had mentioned that the Potato Patch reef reflects south swells right into Fort Cronkhite. Great I’ll go there; I haven’t surf there in years. At 7:50 am I pulled into the parking lot at Cronkhite and my jaw dropped. The surf was huge; beautiful big peaks with plumes of stray coming off the tops marching in with twenty highly skilled short boarders scratching to get into these bombs. In an instant I knew these waves were above my skill level. “Take pictures,” I said to myself.

Cronkhite is a photographer’s dream. Due to a steep beach, the waves break close to shore and a high berm puts the photographer above and close to the breakers. A few surfers were at the north point, but the real action was the critical middle peak. The waves were a consistent six to seven feet and the big sets were easily ten feet, three to four feet overhead. To get into these waves, the surfers had to take off late, right at the point when the swells jumped up and the tops pitched out and landed at the base of the waves. The surfers hung at the top and then dropped at near free fall down the face of the waves. There was one spectacular ride after another, and in one hour I took over seventy high-action pictures.

Today was young men territory. I didn’t see any long boards or old guys, except one. I observed the correct way to paddle out at big Cronkhite. An experience surfer, early thirties, in great physical shape, well defined back muscles from hours of paddling, stood at the water’s edge between the point and middle peaks, waited for a lull, ran down the steep beach, jumped on his board and stroked out to the middle peak without getting his hair wet. I then observed a gray haired surfer, mid-fifties, with a seven to eight foot short board, stretching on the beach. “Oh no, this is trouble,” I thought to myself. He approached the water at the middle of the point peak, waited, charged out into the water, jumped on his board, took two strokes and was immediately clobbered by a four-foot shore break wave. He frantically paddled as another wave approached. Again he was clobbered, and again he started scratching out as another wave was coming in. His duck-diving skills were mediocre. My attention turned back to taking pictures. Ten minutes later this guy was on the south side of the middle peak, two hundred yards down the beach, still only ten feet from shore. Obviously these waves were way above his abilities.

Linda Mar

I was determined to ride some waves so I drove to Linda Mar in Pacifica. Good decision, the waves were four to five feet and well within my skill range. After watching the big bombs at Cronkhite these waves looked like a piece of cake. I didn’t have much time. I arrived at 10:00 am and planned to meet my friends at 11:45 am. I’ll go for forty-five minutes and be on the road by 11:00 am. My confidence was high and with little time I sprinted out there and jammed to catch several waves, good clean glassy walls. It was sunny, hot, no wind and invigorating to be out there. In a short period, I got some great exercise, burned off a lot of energy, dropped down some beautiful walls, enjoyed the warm weather, quickly changed and moved on down the road.

Ocean Beach, Sloat Avenue

After lunch, driving home I traveled my usual path along the coast to check the waves. I turned off Skyline Blvd onto the Great Highway and drove over the hill to an incredible view of the beautiful waves at Sloat Avenue. At 3:00 pm I saw overhead blue-green peaks, glassy smooth, surfers from one end of the beach to the other, bright sunlight, no wind, no clouds, no fog and blue sky all the way to the horizon. “Take pictures,” I said to myself. Luck was with me, some guy pulled out as I pulled into the packed parking lot at Sloat Avenue. The waves were six-foot plus with sets to eight to nine feet. The afternoon light turned these peaks a beautiful emerald blue-green. All types of surfers were out there: short boarders, long boarders, boogie boarders, young men, girls and old guys too. I stood on the cliff in front of my car, watched many spectacular in the curl rides and over the next hour took another seventy photos.

What an incredible day of surf. A strong pumping swell combined with a windless heat wave creating twelve hours of glassy conditions. I witnessed great surf from Marin to Pacifica and I’m positive that conditions were excellent from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz. Today was one in a thousand.