Monday, August 25, 2008

Gorgeous Morning Surf, and Boujmaa's Blowin' Up!

Fun swell the last few days! Last night it was blowing very light onshore, which was bowling them up pretty nicely. They had a bit of size too, if you were patient and waited for the sets. Most of 'em looked just like this: (thanks for the pic, Anne)

Bowly and Sectiony, but a whole lot of fun!
The ocean was magnificent this morning! The breeze was non-existent, so it was super glassy out there. The water's very clear right now, with a hint of a greenish hue. There were a bunch of little bait fish swimming around, full schools of them jumping out of the water in close succession, probably running from something bigger looking for breakfast! Lots of cannonball jellyfish bobbing around, too. But the cake winners this morning were the massive thunderheads bubbling up a few miles offshore. The rising sun was directly behind them, illuminating the swirling anvil shaped tops. Kevin and I watched in amazement as a funnel appeared at the base, slowly pulling straight down towards the water. It went through a few phases, sometimes appearing to have multiple layers wrapping around a core cylinder. Eventually, we could see the ocean water swirling and pulling up towards the funnel that was reaching down. As the two ends met, I watched as a DNA style double helix started to twirl up towards the cloud. That's when I tried to determine exactly what direction this system was moving... Phew, out to sea! All the while, there was no hint whatsoever of breeze where we were, just a mile or two away.

Once the sun popped over the thunderheads, I watched as the Lighthouse was illuminated first, then the Motels, and finally, the waves. Duck diving under the sets, the sections of broken whitewater were bursting with bright turbulence, a stark contrast to the undisturbed dark green water underneath. Gorgeous morning.

I'll try to get some pics this afternoon if we head back out there, should be a killer few days of swell and light winds!

In the meantime, check out this video of Boujmaa, which I came across on windsurfjournal. This guy, quite simply, rips!! I especially like the weird aerial grubby he throws about 42 seconds in (not to mention the huge backloops, stalled forwards, and pushloop to forwards...) Anybody wanna go to Morocco?!

2 comments:

Outdrsmn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Outdrsmn said...

Too many typos in the first comment.

I was over by the Avon pier doing a little surf fishing at sunrise. It was awesome, the water was definately glassy with waist to chest high sets. I'll have some photos up soon.