Saltwater for Breakfast

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

December in SoCal seems to be the perfect time for some big waves. Over the past three years, the day after Christmas -- literally the same day -- has been a big day. This year, not as big as predicted, but in 2023? It was huge . It was the 10-12 foot waves at Blackies that year that blew my mind! I wrote about how we got wiped out in a surf lesson the day before the big surf arrived, because we got caught in the leading edge of the swell. These December big surf events are