Need to catch up on several days of daily sessions.

Sunday afternoon, the swell peaked. It was pretty messed up, all up and down the peninsula, but I swam out, skinning it in 60-ish water, for a half hour that saw a few 8-10 foot (face) bombs come through. Fairly wicked and closed out, there were still some short cuts to be had on the more moderate sized sets.

Monday was another solid day of swell on the peninsula, much like Sunday. I went out later, around 11:00, on my first solo session of the summer. I had 15th Street all to myself for a couple of hours in consistent, shoulder/head high waves. It was still very chilly; the shorty barely cut it. Although it was overcast throughout, there was a fair amount of texture on the surface but not enough to mess up the waves. Plenty of open tubes on a fun, relaxed morning.

Yesterday, Joe & I decided to head down to San Clemente State Park, where we hoped the fading swell would hold up better and in quest of a reprieve from the cold of the peninsula. It was fun, but disappointing. Four different swells combined for often crossed up but still peaky waist to shoulder high waves. We left a bright sun in Newport for heavy overcast in the Park and the water was still quite chilly at 61 or so.

While it was ok, it was disappointing against expectations, compounded not only by the chill water and overcast but also a pervasive infection of pea-green algae and pesky backwash. The fact that we had the main peak down to the rocks at the Park all to ourselves was mitigated by the sickly green hue of what would have been fun little barrels.

This afternoon, we were surprised to find that a bit of the swell still remained on the peninsula.   Mid-afternoon, the sun was out and the breeze was mild, texturing the surface without messing the waves up.

I spent about an hour, drifting from 10th Street to 13th, catching thick, shoulder to nearly head high waves, a few of which had decent left and right shoulders.  Skinned it, again, in low 60's water.  The shot above, at 6th Street, was afterwards...wish I'd shot a few earlier!

As I returned to 6th, Joe was in the water on a sponge, messing in the closed-out set waves, while my mother took photos from the shore, and daughter Hilary and her boyfriend, Doug, dozed under the sun on the beach.

Through the afternoon, the sets came in regularly, until about 4:30, when a long lull set in.  The shot below, at about 5:00, may be the last set of this swell.

Not much expectations for the next couple of days here, but it was nice to have an extended stretch with waves and occasional sun.  Would be nice if the water would warm up, now.  Something over 65 would sure be nice.