The latest in our wave makers arrived innocuously enough with a soft and barely perceptible pulse arriving late in the evening. I had watched the shoulder high lines stacking up at California Street at last light, under yet another masterpiece sunset. Yet not much pulse showed on the weather buoys.
The next morning at 3 am saw the East Channel buoy climb 3 feet in the interim before dawn. A straight West swell, and not too big. It was the proverbial Goldilocks and the Three Bears storybook combination of swell angle, size and weather for the Gold Coast’s multiple breaks. It would be “just right”.
Damn. I knew at that point I would be on the road. I knew all other aspects of life would have to come to a halt. But it is, just what it is, and I wandered, viewing with rapt wonder at the 14-15 second interval swell that featured sets with so many waves in them that each spot became a lineup dream of pulse, spoking into, around, and down each break.
The abundance was such, that even at the more crowded spots I saw innumerable waves spin by unridden.
Swell 4 lit every place up and the perfect disposition made it fit a diverse number of ability levels as almost every place became a diorama of rolling perfection. A holiday gift for all of us.
Click on any of the images in the gallery below for a larger view.