{"id":22729,"date":"2018-12-17T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=22729"},"modified":"2018-12-31T22:48:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-01T06:48:44","slug":"december-17-2018-large-surf-and-swells-from-san-nicolas-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2018\/12\/17\/december-17-2018-large-surf-and-swells-from-san-nicolas-island\/","title":{"rendered":"December 17, 2018 Large Surf and Swells from San Nicolas Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The coast of Southern California faces mostly towards the south and southwest, so the large ocean swells of winter from the west and northwest, do not provide the heavy surf and large waves here compared to the Central California coast. \u00a0Beaches that DO have a decent exposure towards the west might see the large swell dissipated greatly by offshore islands.<\/p>\n

But, out at the western end of San Nicolas Island, these problems are moot! \u00a0The west end of the island takes the full brunt of the large swells that are spawned by the deep and persistent storms in and around the Gulf of Alaska and across the northern Pacific Ocean. \u00a0I suppose that I should add a caveat, however. \u00a0There are apparently some shallows well offshore to the west of the island (a mile or two?) where waves break and the swell is diminished some before directly impacting the island.<\/p>\n

December 17th was a Monday and a workday for me at the airport here on the island. \u00a0Once at the airport around sunrise, a prominent and thunderous (though muted) roar was emanating from the northwest. \u00a0This was due to giant surf! \u00a0The eerie and continuous booming sound was the loudest that I had yet to hear in my off and on time during the previous four years here. \u00a0The airport is towards the northeastern end of the island, and this giant surf was slamming the beaches about 3 to 6 miles distant to my northwest and west-northwest. \u00a0I needed to be along the coast there NOW to photograph this event! \u00a0But, I was stuck at work as the weather observer until 4 p.m. \u00a0UGH. \u00a0Would the heavy swells persist well into the afternoon? \u00a0Why couldn’t these big waves had occurred during the weekend, when I was free?!<\/p>\n

I went online and checked the buoy that is west of San Nicolas Island. \u00a0By mid-morning, it was showing waves and\/or swells over the open ocean waters that were averaging about 20 feet! \u00a0That was up about 8-10 feet from the previous day, and up about 6 feet compared to 4 a.m., if my memory serves correctly. \u00a0I still had to wait another 6 hours, though.<\/p>\n

I had a hunch that the large swells would diminish some by the time my shift ended, and I was correct. \u00a0These ultra-high wave events are usually fairly brief. \u00a0By mid-afternoon, the buoy to the west (Buoy 46219) showed wave heights of about 15 to 16 feet. \u00a0And, the thunderous roar was less than half as prominent as it had been. \u00a0Shucks. \u00a0My buddy picked me up at 4 p.m. and we headed first to the coastline near Thousand Springs, which has a perfect exposure towards the WNW (this is near the northern-most point of the island). \u00a0The light was nice and the surf was impressive, and the photography was fun. \u00a0It would have been nice to have been here at 8 a.m.! \u00a0The first ten images below were from this location near Thousand Springs.<\/p>\n

We decided to check out the surf at Rock Crusher before sunset. \u00a0Rock Crusher has more of a westerly exposure, and the surf here seemed to be a little smaller comparably. \u00a0However, the waves here crash directly into rocky cliff areas, which cause gigantic spray explosions! \u00a0This was going to be cool, with the sun setting right behind! \u00a0I had about ten minutes to shoot this scene before the sun set, and it was very worthwhile. \u00a0The final 14 surf shots below are from Rock Crusher.<\/p>\n

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