Pumping Doheny
Had a foggy start to the morning today and I was wondering if a swim was even gonna happen. I took a 6 mile run out to Lantern Bay park. As I ran through the parking lot of Doheny State Beach on the Capo Beach end, I could see the waves breaking dimly through the fog further outside than normal which means there is a bigger than normal swell in the water. Once I got to the Boneyard section of Doheny near the jetty, there were a lot of surfers in the water and the surf quality looked really good and big by Doheny standards (known for its smaller surf).
Up on the cliff in Lantern Bay Park, I could see a large group of surfers waiting for waves far out past the grouping of rocks where they normally are. I’ve seen canoes and stand up paddle boarders surf waves out there but I don’t recall seeing surfers in this spot. The trouble with that break is that the waves either don’t fully break or they break and then shortly putter out. A canoe or SUP can leverage their extra paddle power to ride these. I pause my run for about 10 minutes to watch. I mostly see the surfers struggle to paddle into a proper surfing position. I figure there must be some larger sets with more power or else these surfers would not be hanging here. I do see a couple successful launches but they don’t seem to go far.
When I get home, the fog still looks pretty heavy. I can finally see some beach and surf in the webcam but it is pretty well obscured. I’m thinking of just calling off the swim. I walk my dog, empty the dishwasher and shave. If it is still heavy fog, I’m just gonna take a shower and bail on the swim. Well, things still look foggy but more crisp. I can see the Monarch Bay Point from the Salt Creek cam so I decide to give it a go.
It’s about 10 and as I drive over San Juan Creek, Doheny still looks like it is pumping. Driving into the Strand parking lot, I’m wondering if the fog is doable, but when I get to the stairs, I can see all the points and pretty far out, certainly farther than I swim, so I feel confident we are good. The air and pavement feel warm.
When I get to the beach, I see the surf is definitely up a couple notches from yesterday. There is a set coming in as I am heading out and I decide just to go for it and start swimming and diving under the breaks. It’s just one wave after another and I am totally out of breath by the time I clear the surf line.
I’m swimming out further than normal today though I probably don’t really need to. When I get to the South end, I am out far enough here I can see the West facing half-caves and cliffs. If you were to walk along the bottom of those cliffs (which you can at low tide), you will soon reach the cove near the Ocean Institute at the Dana Point harbor. Great spot for viewing tide pools and caves and tunnels carved out by the crashing surf.
I start heading North. I’m thinking about how the swim to shore will be through this surf. Probably much more tame than the images my active imagination conjures up. My goggles keep getting fogged up today and it is hard to make out the land marks but I know where I am going. About half way to the North end I see a few objects further out and am trying to make out what they are. Not dolphin fins…darn. They end up being fishermen (or women) hanging out on solo canoes.
I eventually reach the Green Monster buoy which has a mass of kelp hanging from its tether. I turn and head in to finish the swim. Just as I suspected, the swim in is no problem at all. I don’t fiddle too much with taking pictures of waves today, but as I am heading up the ramp, I get a pretty good spot of a surfer on a well overhead wave.
