California has had a lackluster winter so far. Since my home spots don't even start breaking until a solid NW swell hits the coast, this winter has been particularly dismal. So, I guess it is easy to understand why a standard 4-6ft NW swell would get all hyped up and lead to way too much excitement. With "heavy surf advisory" alerts going out on the nightly news and all the major surf forecasting websites claiming the "biggest swell of 2009" everyone was in a frenzy, anticipating a weekend full of big surf.

I must admit that I got totally caught up in it. The swell was supposed to start showing on Saturday morning and all day Friday I was getting ready. I went snorkeling at my favorite left reef and used my dive knife to clear some kelp out of the lineup. I pulled out my bigger wave boards, gathered fins, and packed snacks. I was ready for a solid few days of surf.

Predictably, Saturday morning dawned sunny, offshore, and flat! Instead of racing up to my favorite spots, I spent the morning checking all the surf cameras up North. Ventura looked good and impossibly crowded, but nowhere else seemed to be showing much sign of the big swell. Around lunchtime, I couldn't sit inside any longer and loaded the car with 4 different boards and started driving around to check spots. By 2pm, we gave up all hope of big surf, and headed down to the cove with our four fin fishes. We ended up sharing an amazingly warm, offshore afternoon with super fun head high waves. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was definitely a good time.