Friday, December 15, 2006

On Bigger Days...

Last December, I remember from Christmas onto well into January, there was not a single day we could surf since it was stormy and big. This December, and right now we are starting to get into week 2 of "too big to surf" because as soon as the first 20-ft class came through there is another 20-ft class waves. The northern part of Pacific becomes a roaring mess of 50-ft seas often times. We all hear about that on the news, but I now understand a lot more about 50-ft class seas today than before. No wonder shipwrecks are fairly common in the winter and around Alaska and northern Pacific.

I used to not like big days. Simply because I could not find a place to surf.
But now I look forward to big days not because I can surf big waves. I now can surf bigger waves but not big waves, but what I am waiting for is the replenishing of sandbars.

This last half of the summer was quite lame on the sandbar department in Half Moon Bay. Just about all of our favorite local spots, the sandbars were all raked out and even on some decent swell days, all the waves were just breaking very close at the shore. This caused a choice of spots and types of waves we could surf.

But on the book I have studied on Surf Science: An Introduction To Waves For Surfing, there was a great section on how sandbars form, and I came to scientifically understand why big messy period of time is needed to rebuild good sand bars, and probably like anything in the nature we all tend to destroy and neglect, there are much more ecological benefits for this to happen.

So on bigger days, I would go out and enjoy the beauty and the magnificence of big waves, and wait for it to shape our playgrounds!
Cheers!

No comments: