Pro Surfing and Contests

Fall Surf Notes from San Fran

A lot’s happening around here. Fall is when it happens, too. The oppressive heat, dense coastal fog, and winds of summer ‘08 in San Francisco are history - finally! It’s been consistently good conditions for several weeks now (hence the reduced number of posts from me) with streaks of warm/hot coastal weather, warmish (for around here) water, fresh fall season swells, and calm winds.
Couldn’t have been better timing for the Cold Water Classic down in Santa Cruz. Epic, contestable swells pumped in for most of the event. Congrats to 17 year-old local, Nat Young, for taking the win. While Santa Cruz was silly with stoke, up North, San Francisco’s Ocean Beach was pretty much as good as it gets. Last Thursday, the 23rd, was arguably the best day of the week with hot sunny weather, clean overhead swell, and glassy-to-off-shore conditions.  I surfed Noriega St. for about three hours before having to retreat due to obligations inland. It was difficult leaving the beach that day. I only managed to take these two quick  photos.

Capping off the week, on Sat & Sun, the mighty Pacific delivered a sizable 12ft.@20second swell that awoke the sleeping giant Maverick’s with triple-overhead plus waves (a small day for that location, really). Tow-in team practice was in full swing, whipping dudes into some glassy bombs.  The building swell Saturday slowly overtook Ocean Beach, but not before one OB surfer got sucked out to sea and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard. When it’s too big at OB the secret points of SF turn on. The not-so-secret Ft. Point was reportedly going-off with sets working all the way around the corner.

More Stoke is on the Way!

Related Posts

• Surfing in California: Nor Cal v. So Cal
• Ocean Pollution Update/Follow-up
• Surfing site to bookmark: Stormpulse.com
• Surfing in San Francisco: FT. Point
• New Surf Film ‘Aquaholics’ premiers Sept 5 in San Francisco