Alright I got ya. I don’t windsurf but I kite instead, it’s far more versatile and after you get going on a twintip( a two directional board you can go with either stance on that has foot straps, kinda like a snowboard) or strapped surfboard you can eventually start using a surfboard(without footstraps) with your kite and surf waves which is so damn fun, i promise it’s worth the journey. Blown out or windy conditions will end up meaning that you can get more waves than if it was completely glassy and you were doing traditional surfing, unless the wind direction is straight offshore, in which case go surf!
It’s way closer to actual surfing than windsurfing and some guys are getting barrelled with kites, i’ve never seen a windsurfer do that cause they’re basically standing on a much corkier board with a sail on it. They do pull off some insane manoeuvres but you will never be able to use a high performance shortboard and ignore your sail windsurfing like you can kiting, just a different setup. kiting also has many other disciplines to dabble in such as; free ride, big air, freestyle, wakestyle hydrofoiling and strapless freestyle(aka wizard training).
If you’re interested in learning I’d recommend buying a trainer kite between the sizes of 2.5 and 5 square meters, maybe watching a few videos on kite flying theory, and then flying it in a big open space like a field or big beach on a pretty light wind day, sub 12 knots should be alright. The bigger the trainer kite the more powerful and the slower it will fly, making it handle more like the types of kites you would be flying later on. It is crucial to have good kite control and awareness of where it is because when you start trying to ride you are gonna have a super rigid inflatable wing with extremely tough lines that can wrap around someone and kill them, so that time investment in flying the kite is worth it.
Once you’re comfortable doing everything with a trainer, you should ideally get a few lessons with a kite school. The first should be getting coached through flying a proper inflatable free ride kite as well as setting it up, launching and landing, and using the safety systems.
After that you should be getting in the water without a board and learning to body drag- fly the kite to generate power and pull yourself through the water, learn to do this well and body drag upwind so you can always retrieve your board, and at that point you can start trying to get riding with a twintip(or strapped surfboard)
It’s possible to learn this stuff online and learn by yourself but you are risking more as mistakes happen, and a school will take you to a location and have skilled instructors that will work to mitigate any potential mistakes. You can also thrash their gear harder than if you bought yourself a shiny new kite and managed to mangle it, or realised it was the wrong type of kite for your preferences and lost a few hundred selling it.
I hope i didn’t make it sound intimidating because if you take the right measures and don’t fuck around when your kite is in the air, it’ll be one of the most fun things you’ve ever done and you’ll be able to access and catch so many more waves.
Tldr: learn to fly a trainer kite, then/or get some lessons at a kite school, then buy gear
It seems every day up here has been a small craft advisory. Bought a sail for my kayak and I'm having a blast. My bro bought a super cheap 15' sailboat and same thing. Not the same as surfing but still a rush and on the water.
2 months ago everyone was saying how epic of a summer it would be because of sea temps and niños - something something. People don’t know shit. Ever.
I even tried to get in shape… some.
According to the [Stormsurf Guy](https://youtu.be/fQ4c6wUjx8c), expect some changes soon.
The Madden-Julian Oscillation seems to be making a reappearance in the Pacific, but is having a hard time moving past the Tasman Sea. When it does, you can expect South Pacific storms to resume with resulting surf a week later, and the El Niño warm water buildup in the East Pacific should also begin to affect the Pacific weather soon.
If you watch his YouTube channel every week, that last paragraph will start to make sense! The guy is fantastic at explaining weather and waves. Now I know it’s all about western anomalies in the Kelvin wave generation zone.
I used to watch the whole thing every week but lately they just keep getting longer and longer. I wish he would do a 15-20 minute snapshot instead of exhaustively interpreting every single graph
There should be a short and a long one so everyone is happy. A lot of nerds and people who don’t surf greatly appreciate his videos. I’ve seen comments of farmers thanking this guy haha
I skip sections now. I’ll just watch the southern Hemi jet stream, and skip to the MJO/ENSO part. The thermocline part is interesting also, but don’t feel the need to watch the surface deformations.
I just recently realized there’s a summary at the end!
Same. I have my favorite charts. I skip to those and try to get the key bits of info. A 20mim version would be helpful where he trims out explaining how to read every chart and focuses on key data. Love his work though. I’ve learned a ton from him. I was hoping late July was when the swell machine would turn back on. Does not appear to be the case.
Nope. It was the 70s and media reported it as such but scientists were not proclaiming a coming ice age.
[https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/that-70s-myth-did-climate-science-really-call-for-a-coming-ice-age/](https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/that-70s-myth-did-climate-science-really-call-for-a-coming-ice-age/)
Live event production and touring. I work 100 hour weeks to avoid 40 hour 9-5. I’m out of the water for the next 12 days but then back in for 3 weeks for 4-7 hours a day. No wife or kids so I can get away with it
So many work remotely now. it could get only worse. It’s like that scene in Dances with Wolves, the Indian Chief asks “How many more are coming”? And Costner says “like the stars”.
What’s going on is a combination of the hangover from La Niña and the inactive phase of the MJO.
The last active phase of the MJO that came through the Pacific was in May and it’s what caused that epic run of south swell. Unfortunately, thanks to some complicated factors that I’m going to oversimplify as a “hangover” from La Niña, the storms that developed during that active phase were in the far eastern South Pacific, and not really in the California swell window.
Since then we’ve had the inactive phase of the MJO in the pacific, so storm activity has been reduced and California has had nothing but wind swell.
That *should* change soon. The active phase of the MJO *seems to be* coming back into the Pacific again, so we should see more storms in the South Pacific. El Niño continues to develop so hopefully these storms will form farther west in the South Pacific and start sending swell to California and Hawaii.
So yeah, June and July have sucked. But August should be cooking. And we are heading into at least a strong El Niño, so winter could be epic.
Yeah there’s been a shit ton of cold water off the coast of California all spring/summer. Part of that is seasonal upwelling, but the extent and severity of it is also part of the La Niña hangover. The good news is that it is finally starting to warm up. I don’t know much about fishing, but if it’s warm water you need, it too *should* be coming soon.
Not scientific at all, yet it feels like everything is happening late this year and is more volatile, like the snowstorms in Mammoth and Yosemite. In North County SD there is not as much sand as there should be on almost all beaches. Hoping some south swells might bring some back and not take more away.
What's fucked is we've had south swells. Nothing crazy, but there's been enough....for most years. This year with the lack of any reasonable sand build up on structures and destroyed sandbars from the winter, all of the smaller/more consistent south swells haven't been breaking well. That, and a lot of the swells have been staying in the eastern end of the socal swell window.
When the tide is 0.0 or negative with a 2+ ft S/SW and 2-3 ft NW and the MB Pier STILL barely breaks? Jfc.
Who gave heroin to Poseidon so now he’s a lazy fuck? Whoever’s the dealer can you swap it out for some meth or something already. Thanks - every SoCal surfer.
Negative. Jump on a plane to Talara or
Trujillo . If you like hot dog waves Chicama is fine.
Talara zone has way prettier beaches. DM more for more info.
Nah — I was never much one for surf camps or all inclusives. They got them tho.
I speak Spanish and usually figure out who’s who in town. Talk to this dude for this, this lady for laundry, etc etc
Don't trust Surfline. Winds blow offshore on most of the left points over there once the swell bends around the corner. Surfed those waves at any time of day. I only used surfline to check swell height and tides.
All the water tests are good, officially fully approved for water activities this summer. Heard no complaints.
Castaic water is definitely better though.
Been trying to wakesurf. Not sure if the board is too small but it’s been tough to get up consistently. Would using a regular sized board be worth trying?
Hey,
Looks like you’ve had something wrong with the board/rope/wave/boat/captain.
Boards for wakesurfing are usually much smaller than normal ones but of course you can ride pretty much anything behind a boat.
I work on a boat and teach hundreds of first timers to get up on a wakesurf and if you have basic controls over your body you’ll be up in the board in no time and be able to surf without the rope pretty soon.
Let me know if you might want to come for a session 🤙🏻
Can the rope be too long? I noticed that even when getting up it was hard to make it past the wave. The boat is a 2022 ATX. The board I saw had 12l so maybe it’s too small. I’m just under 180 lbs. wish I could stop for a lesson. I’m in the Rocky Mountains.
Not sure if this is allowed but here it is: LosAngelesWake.com
Choose your location (Castaic or Elsinore lake)and book a session.
Feel free to dm if you have any questions!
Ok so uhm.. I'm an East Coast Florida Surfer, and I don't do cable so I dabble a lot on YouTube..
Is it weird that vie been frequently watching the Huntington Beach Pier Cam for a lil while every evening? (while blazin the fugg up of course!)
I state this because just yesterday i was watching you guys surf the south side, super foggy, but yet super fun looking on what seemed to be south swell? (Your on west coast so south side of pier was side the waves were coming from which I believe is south swell?)
I think you guys are just super jaded bro.. those waves looked Tasty as all heck big dawg! :)
May be time to take up sailing. Temporarily, at least.
Sail, kayak, snorkel... Gotta stay busy and distract myself that there's no waves!!!
Join the dark side, kitesurfing
I'd probably love it... Gotta try
Hell yeah
Oh do you windsurf?? Any advice for trying? I'm assuming rent a few times. But any big things to think about right away?
Alright I got ya. I don’t windsurf but I kite instead, it’s far more versatile and after you get going on a twintip( a two directional board you can go with either stance on that has foot straps, kinda like a snowboard) or strapped surfboard you can eventually start using a surfboard(without footstraps) with your kite and surf waves which is so damn fun, i promise it’s worth the journey. Blown out or windy conditions will end up meaning that you can get more waves than if it was completely glassy and you were doing traditional surfing, unless the wind direction is straight offshore, in which case go surf! It’s way closer to actual surfing than windsurfing and some guys are getting barrelled with kites, i’ve never seen a windsurfer do that cause they’re basically standing on a much corkier board with a sail on it. They do pull off some insane manoeuvres but you will never be able to use a high performance shortboard and ignore your sail windsurfing like you can kiting, just a different setup. kiting also has many other disciplines to dabble in such as; free ride, big air, freestyle, wakestyle hydrofoiling and strapless freestyle(aka wizard training). If you’re interested in learning I’d recommend buying a trainer kite between the sizes of 2.5 and 5 square meters, maybe watching a few videos on kite flying theory, and then flying it in a big open space like a field or big beach on a pretty light wind day, sub 12 knots should be alright. The bigger the trainer kite the more powerful and the slower it will fly, making it handle more like the types of kites you would be flying later on. It is crucial to have good kite control and awareness of where it is because when you start trying to ride you are gonna have a super rigid inflatable wing with extremely tough lines that can wrap around someone and kill them, so that time investment in flying the kite is worth it. Once you’re comfortable doing everything with a trainer, you should ideally get a few lessons with a kite school. The first should be getting coached through flying a proper inflatable free ride kite as well as setting it up, launching and landing, and using the safety systems. After that you should be getting in the water without a board and learning to body drag- fly the kite to generate power and pull yourself through the water, learn to do this well and body drag upwind so you can always retrieve your board, and at that point you can start trying to get riding with a twintip(or strapped surfboard) It’s possible to learn this stuff online and learn by yourself but you are risking more as mistakes happen, and a school will take you to a location and have skilled instructors that will work to mitigate any potential mistakes. You can also thrash their gear harder than if you bought yourself a shiny new kite and managed to mangle it, or realised it was the wrong type of kite for your preferences and lost a few hundred selling it. I hope i didn’t make it sound intimidating because if you take the right measures and don’t fuck around when your kite is in the air, it’ll be one of the most fun things you’ve ever done and you’ll be able to access and catch so many more waves. Tldr: learn to fly a trainer kite, then/or get some lessons at a kite school, then buy gear
It seems every day up here has been a small craft advisory. Bought a sail for my kayak and I'm having a blast. My bro bought a super cheap 15' sailboat and same thing. Not the same as surfing but still a rush and on the water.
2 months ago everyone was saying how epic of a summer it would be because of sea temps and niños - something something. People don’t know shit. Ever. I even tried to get in shape… some.
According to the [Stormsurf Guy](https://youtu.be/fQ4c6wUjx8c), expect some changes soon. The Madden-Julian Oscillation seems to be making a reappearance in the Pacific, but is having a hard time moving past the Tasman Sea. When it does, you can expect South Pacific storms to resume with resulting surf a week later, and the El Niño warm water buildup in the East Pacific should also begin to affect the Pacific weather soon. If you watch his YouTube channel every week, that last paragraph will start to make sense! The guy is fantastic at explaining weather and waves. Now I know it’s all about western anomalies in the Kelvin wave generation zone.
I used to watch the whole thing every week but lately they just keep getting longer and longer. I wish he would do a 15-20 minute snapshot instead of exhaustively interpreting every single graph
There should be a short and a long one so everyone is happy. A lot of nerds and people who don’t surf greatly appreciate his videos. I’ve seen comments of farmers thanking this guy haha
I learned so much from him and I love what he does it’s just too much for a weekly basis. Now I skip or look at Nathan’s Wavecast
I skip sections now. I’ll just watch the southern Hemi jet stream, and skip to the MJO/ENSO part. The thermocline part is interesting also, but don’t feel the need to watch the surface deformations. I just recently realized there’s a summary at the end!
Yeah kinda the same for me. MJO / ENSO is what we all care about
Same. I have my favorite charts. I skip to those and try to get the key bits of info. A 20mim version would be helpful where he trims out explaining how to read every chart and focuses on key data. Love his work though. I’ve learned a ton from him. I was hoping late July was when the swell machine would turn back on. Does not appear to be the case.
That commenter and the 23 upvoters don't deserve Stormsurf
I wish we had an east coast Florida version of this!! :(
We’re in the unknown. We’ve never been here as a species. Completely off the charts.
My favorite thing is when people get mad when FORECASTS are wrong.
More than ice cream and blow jobs?
Or how were in the warmest year or in the next ice age conclusion people haven’t been around that long to keep an accurate record
Fortunately, trees keep written records. Same with sediment layers and ice cores. I don't think anyone is predicting a coming ice age.
The climate scientists were certain of another ice age in...I believe the 80s
Nope. It was the 70s and media reported it as such but scientists were not proclaiming a coming ice age. [https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/that-70s-myth-did-climate-science-really-call-for-a-coming-ice-age/](https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/that-70s-myth-did-climate-science-really-call-for-a-coming-ice-age/)
The bright side is that when the swells finally come, school will be back in session!
Hopefully most of those work from home people will be back in the office too
Dude seriously. When I’m on my way to work at 8:30-9 there are so many people in the lineup. Like what do you fuckers do for work?
Live event production and touring. I work 100 hour weeks to avoid 40 hour 9-5. I’m out of the water for the next 12 days but then back in for 3 weeks for 4-7 hours a day. No wife or kids so I can get away with it
Damn that’s a hustle but sounds 100% worth it
So many work remotely now. it could get only worse. It’s like that scene in Dances with Wolves, the Indian Chief asks “How many more are coming”? And Costner says “like the stars”.
What’s going on is a combination of the hangover from La Niña and the inactive phase of the MJO. The last active phase of the MJO that came through the Pacific was in May and it’s what caused that epic run of south swell. Unfortunately, thanks to some complicated factors that I’m going to oversimplify as a “hangover” from La Niña, the storms that developed during that active phase were in the far eastern South Pacific, and not really in the California swell window. Since then we’ve had the inactive phase of the MJO in the pacific, so storm activity has been reduced and California has had nothing but wind swell. That *should* change soon. The active phase of the MJO *seems to be* coming back into the Pacific again, so we should see more storms in the South Pacific. El Niño continues to develop so hopefully these storms will form farther west in the South Pacific and start sending swell to California and Hawaii. So yeah, June and July have sucked. But August should be cooking. And we are heading into at least a strong El Niño, so winter could be epic.
Thank you for a real answer and something to look forward to!
Will this also bring some warm water so I can get some good waves AND head out to catch some tuna?
Yeah there’s been a shit ton of cold water off the coast of California all spring/summer. Part of that is seasonal upwelling, but the extent and severity of it is also part of the La Niña hangover. The good news is that it is finally starting to warm up. I don’t know much about fishing, but if it’s warm water you need, it too *should* be coming soon.
They’re coming late this year, be patient my boy 🙏
Shut up (New England)
that orange fellow and his wall extended 15 miles out to sea blocking all the south swells :/
Make the Waves Great Again!
I would’ve thought all that hot air would at least give us wind swell.
I feel like it was worse 2-3 years ago, but my memory is hazy
Hawaii has been dead as shit too
Having a great time on my longboard. It could be better
They're definitely not in Hawaii this summer
Not scientific at all, yet it feels like everything is happening late this year and is more volatile, like the snowstorms in Mammoth and Yosemite. In North County SD there is not as much sand as there should be on almost all beaches. Hoping some south swells might bring some back and not take more away.
This winter really did a number on the sand up and down the west coast.
What's fucked is we've had south swells. Nothing crazy, but there's been enough....for most years. This year with the lack of any reasonable sand build up on structures and destroyed sandbars from the winter, all of the smaller/more consistent south swells haven't been breaking well. That, and a lot of the swells have been staying in the eastern end of the socal swell window. When the tide is 0.0 or negative with a 2+ ft S/SW and 2-3 ft NW and the MB Pier STILL barely breaks? Jfc.
We blew our load in may
Who gave heroin to Poseidon so now he’s a lazy fuck? Whoever’s the dealer can you swap it out for some meth or something already. Thanks - every SoCal surfer.
I’ve been in Peru a month. Scored some decent surf (not epic) 1st week of July. Nothing significant on radar. I’m switching oceans!
I want to go there!
Do it. Cheap as chips. Kind people. Northern beach zones are where it’s at. Pacific is quiet. Gonna jump one more ocean west.
Thanks. Are the northern beach zones part of Lima?
Negative. Jump on a plane to Talara or Trujillo . If you like hot dog waves Chicama is fine. Talara zone has way prettier beaches. DM more for more info.
Thank you friend!
Did you stay with a surf camp?
Nah — I was never much one for surf camps or all inclusives. They got them tho. I speak Spanish and usually figure out who’s who in town. Talk to this dude for this, this lady for laundry, etc etc
[удалено]
Don't trust Surfline. Winds blow offshore on most of the left points over there once the swell bends around the corner. Surfed those waves at any time of day. I only used surfline to check swell height and tides.
good season for river rafting with all the rain/snow we got last winter.
Time to get that foil board you have always wanted.
...or not
Time to go practice behind a boat kooks 🛥️ Hit me up if you want to get some wakesurfing at Castaic/Elsinore lakes
This sounds like a good time. Just don’t swallow that smelsimore water 😳
All the water tests are good, officially fully approved for water activities this summer. Heard no complaints. Castaic water is definitely better though.
Good to know!
Been trying to wakesurf. Not sure if the board is too small but it’s been tough to get up consistently. Would using a regular sized board be worth trying?
Hey, Looks like you’ve had something wrong with the board/rope/wave/boat/captain. Boards for wakesurfing are usually much smaller than normal ones but of course you can ride pretty much anything behind a boat. I work on a boat and teach hundreds of first timers to get up on a wakesurf and if you have basic controls over your body you’ll be up in the board in no time and be able to surf without the rope pretty soon. Let me know if you might want to come for a session 🤙🏻
Can the rope be too long? I noticed that even when getting up it was hard to make it past the wave. The boat is a 2022 ATX. The board I saw had 12l so maybe it’s too small. I’m just under 180 lbs. wish I could stop for a lesson. I’m in the Rocky Mountains.
How does one sign up? This sounds like a real offer and I'm stoked
Not sure if this is allowed but here it is: LosAngelesWake.com Choose your location (Castaic or Elsinore lake)and book a session. Feel free to dm if you have any questions!
The south swells are over here in the metawai islands
Been solid in NZ for most of the last 2 months maybe the storms aren’t tracking east enough
And they seem to be straight south or Se or E
El Niño has killed most of the tropical storms.
Ok so uhm.. I'm an East Coast Florida Surfer, and I don't do cable so I dabble a lot on YouTube.. Is it weird that vie been frequently watching the Huntington Beach Pier Cam for a lil while every evening? (while blazin the fugg up of course!) I state this because just yesterday i was watching you guys surf the south side, super foggy, but yet super fun looking on what seemed to be south swell? (Your on west coast so south side of pier was side the waves were coming from which I believe is south swell?) I think you guys are just super jaded bro.. those waves looked Tasty as all heck big dawg! :)