The unused wetsuit

This was the best summer for surfing in San Diego… ever. There was no May Gray, June Gloom, or July Cry. It was perfect weather at the beach almost every day, and that clear weather started in April and continued through November. The water temperature at Scripps Pier reached 78.6 degrees on September 10. Historically, the water temperature peaks in August at around 70 degrees for a couple of weeks. This summer (better to say this year) the water temperature stayed above 70 degrees for months. Most surprising and most welcome was the surf we had all summer.

Things are changing back to wintertime surfing. The warm-water surfers are leaving. It is easier to find a parking spot at the Tourmaline parking lot.

It might be time for me to pull out that unused Patagonia wetsuit (list $565) I bought two years ago. The water temperature last winter barely dipped below 60 degrees. I will start wearing booties soon because they protect my feet from the rocks that will start to appear. Those rocks take tiny chunks out of your flesh and take weeks to heal. Every winter the primary direction of the waves pushes the sand offshore, and the wave direction in the summer brings it back.

Hopefully, by late December or early January, we will begin to get the consistent big north swells. The angle of the wave makes a huge difference in wave size. I have seen waves over 20 feet high at PB Point (whose official name is False Point).