Micro on both sides

Hello Friends,

The view above was captured as our plane passed over Santa Cruz island which is off the coast of California’s Santa Barbara county. The coastline in the foreground has a couple of surf spots, one of which is really quite good. The only way to get there is to boat over from the mainland (about an hour in smooth conditions and with a fast vessel). The water between the island and the mainland is usually not smooth however. Plus there’s heaps of marine traffic because it’s just up the coast from Los Angeles. Fun fact, Blue whales, the largest animals on our planet, are occasional visitors to that channel – even with all the ship traffic.

If you were to go straight from the point at the left side of the picture to the mainland, you pretty much hit the famous Hollister Ranch, while if you did the same thing from the right side of the picture you’d land just north of Rincon. That stretch of coast contains ten right hand point breaks and a couple dozen quality reef and beachbreak waves. A clean WNW winter swell will light ’em all up.

But as you can see from the picture, there was no swell to speak of. In fact, it’s just about as flat in Southern California as in Sydney today.

And, from the shape of the forecasts, it looks as though things are going to be quiet on the surf front on both sides of the pond for at least the next week.

Will try to drop another postcard tomorrow.

Have yourself a top old Tuesday!