Where is Jova?

I left the house a little before 7:15 this morning. I was waiting for the surf report to come up which usually happens about 6:30. The swell from hurricane Jova started to show last night and it is due to peak this morning.

Surfline has been reporting 3-4+ feet which is nothing but it gets adjusted with the real time activity when the surf report comes out. Is it gonna stay 3-4+ or jump to 5-7 or 6-8 in which case I might skip the swim. The webcams look pretty tame. I don’t see much of anything at Strands, and Salt Creek looks like it has decent surf but nothing crazy.

Well the report comes out. The size gets adjusted to 3-5 and the first line of the report is “Jova is here.” Where? Well I’m certainly not gonna stay home on account of 3-5. It is projected to jump to 4-6 in the next hour but I’m just gonna go ahead and go.

I pass Doheny and surf looks good there but again not huge. It’s rarely rarely huge at Doheny but it’s not that big even by Doheny standards.

When I get to the parking lot, the water surface looks pretty jumbled but there is very little breeze.

On the trip down the stairs, I don’t see anything breaking where larger waves would be and I don’t see any distinguishable lines rolling in to shore. Where are you Jova?

When I see the beach, the northern end of the beach looks all misty, but where is the surf? It almost looks flat. Well I sure am glad I didn’t stay home. It is a beautiful morning. The skies are mostly clear except for these high clouds that look like airbrushed designs drawn across a blue canvas of sky.

Just before I get in the water a set rolls in but it is pretty small stuff. I am wondering if this is just a long lull between sets. Am I gonna get caught in something crazy any moment now?

I head south and swim out a bit further for normal just to be on the safe side. Every now and then I look west but just see a flat and wonderful expanse of water that stretches out to forever.

All in all I can’t see too well. The sun is just coming up over the bluff and shining right at me. The water is dark and looks like there might be some red tide here. My goggles are a little fogged up but not enough to motivate me to stop and wipe them out.

Eventually it looks like I may be getting closer to the south cliffs and I stop to defog the goggles so I can make out my turnaround rock. I take off my goggles and why does it look like there are waves breaking not far south parallel to where I am? I focus my eyes and that is exactly what I am seeing. I see a few surfers racing to duck dive under the break. I look more closely to see if maybe I drifted inshore. Nope. Those surfers are just past the rock which is usually 50 feet past the surf.

Hmm. I say. Actually I think I say “Oh shit.” Should I turn around now? I decide to aim myself out further west and see how far I can get before things get too crazy. I’m getting closer to my turnaround spot when another set comes in. These waves look huge and I can’t believe they are breaking way out here. Fortunately due to the nature of the rocks and the point here, it is an isolated break or is it? Man it looks like this wave is gonna break all the way down to where I am. I grab a couple pics that don’t really do this justice because I am in “emergency mode” and my camera aim is imprecise to say the least. Soon I decide enough is enough and turn around. That rock will still be there next time.

Well, I found Jova. Jova is breaking on the south end of the beach and outside. I wonder - is the break isolated to this spot (very possible) or is this just the first showings of a beach wide phenomenon and I’m basically screwed for the swim to shore?

Over the course of the northbound swim I don’t sense or see anything hinting of extra large surf. I mean yeah I see waves breaking but I have been here when things are super big. You can feel the swells roll through like gentle giants that become not so gentle when they reach the shore. When the larger waves break, you can see their spray blow back from whence they came as the crest curls. I’m not seeing any of this.

It’s a lovely swim. The red tide sort of comes and goes. Things are dark, cloudy and generally yucky and suddenly its clear and blue and wonderful. The sky here looks so amazing.

This beach has two primary surf breaks. There are really several along the beach but two that have decent reef/point structure. One is just south of the asphalt road that leads to the beach from the stairs. The other is the one Jova has claimed this morning but usually further inshore. Waves are interesting. They come from all different directions and at varying angles. There are even southeast swells which initially sound impossible but if you look at a map and a storm is in just the right spot of the eastern Pacific of South America, then it can travel ever so slightly east and hit us. Just the slightest change in angle can make one break go bannanas and others near by nada.

I pause at the north end of my swim. I went a tad further than normal to make up for coming up short on the south end of the swim. I look around me and still don’t see any crazy surf, but boy I am pretty far out.

I head back south and try to veer inland so I don’t have a giant distance to swim back to the beach once it is time to do that. When it is time, I am pretty close and there are still thoughts in the back of my head wondering if this is it but I’m close enough to the beach now that even if a huge wave hit here, it doesn’t make me nervous.

A set actually does roll in just as I am about neck deep and I let it pass over me. It’s big but not really that big. Finally I get to the beach and it’s done. As I walk back to the stairs I keep my eye out for waves here but see nothing notable. However as I look south toward the headlands, it is all whitewater. There are waves breaking way outside by the large rocks that sit offshore by the big red metal buoy. That spot has Jova’s name written all over it.