Saltwater for Breakfast

Surfing the other day at Blackies was a stunner of a morning. The marine layer thick, waves small, water glassy, a perfect day. A friend of mine brought a young friend of hers to surf for the first time; the young woman stood up on her first wave and sailed right in! We were both excited for her and envious at the same time! It took me a year of high quality failure to reach the same feat. I caught a couple waves and chatted with Surf Sensei, who is always full of interesting

On most days, the water is so clear at Blackies, you can see right through it. See the few shells on the bottom, the little fish swimming by, the ripples in the sand on sea floor. When the sun reaches a certain height, tiny grains of sand dispersed throughout the water reflect the light, and it looks like I'm swimming in a sparkling snow globe, shimmering within a crystal clarity. For me, the clarity of the water sometimes makes it hard to catch a wave, because I don't know I

According to NOAA , a rogue wave is one that is "large, unexpected, and dangerous." It's the result of a particular kind of focused combo swell, perhaps when ground swell waves from storms interact with currents or different swells add up in constructive interference. When we are out surfing, occasionally we'll see a much bigger wave wander through on an ordinary 2-3' day. You know when something is coming, because the more observant surfers will start paddling out all of sud