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Second session of the day. Afternoon slack low of about 1.7 metres at Cox Bay. Then took a look-see at Rosie Bay, but 10+ skilled shortboard surfers had that option pretty well covered. Sunset dinner at the Surfside Grill. Trying to make the most of the conditions!
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S11 - SUP - Cox Bay (2023 July 31)
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Morning flooding low of about 1 to 1.5 metres at Cox Bay. Pretty modest at first, but then background south swell seemed to show itself at the north end of the beach. The cove and I seem to have made friends and I caught more than a few rights! Walked over for a look-see at Rosie Bay but skilled shortboard crew of surfers was even larger today and the set I saw looked a touch dumpy. Back to the cove at the north end of Cox Bay to prove it wasn’t an accident and scored a few more! Then paddled down and exited on a modest open right out in front of Cox Bay Resort. Fun morning!
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S12 - SUP - Long Beach (2023 Aug 1)
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Dawn-ish zero flooding tide. Straight from PJs to wetsuit with only a banana for breakfast. Fog almost closed in once I took to the water, but it lifted, thankfully. The zero tide seemed to work better than a one metre low as the wave was out beyond the shelf in deeper water. No luck catching any right out in front of Incinerator Rock. Luckily the peak just north of Lot 5 had a little more umph! This combined with a melting away on the deeper water inside made for a fun combination and a nice change to the curtain wall shore pound often found on a one metre low. I returned up to Incinerator Rock for one more try, but no luck. I kept watching the group of longboarders up a Tinies, but it looked pretty poundy from what I saw so I didn’t paddle up. Finished off the morning with pancakes cooked and eaten with an ocean view from the parking lot!
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S13 - wavesailing - Long Beach (2023 Aug 1)
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Homesteaded at Long Beach today after the morning SUP and watched the south wind rotated through to side-off NW. Vancouver winger on 7 m cruised the bay until it shifted NW (that made the winger come in and made me get ready to go out). Took to the water about 4:30 pm on an ebbing tide of about 2 metres. It didn’t look like there was much wind, but there was enough on the water, most of the time. Rolled off and missed some target waves due to small wave size combined with light wind, but caught others in the set for something most rides in. A mix of backside and single-hit frontside riding. After spending the whole day at the beach it was refreshing to take to the water and cool off. Warm water and shorty was a treat!
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S14 - SUP - Long Beach (2023 Aug 2)
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Scored two blocks of ice in town just before the power went off and some stores stopped selling. Afternoon ebbing high tide of about 2.8 metres to 2.3 metres at Long Beach. Arrived to mid-day glass, but wind followed to make me a feel like I was a little late for the party. Still fun and decent.
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S15 - SUP - Long Beach (2023 Aug 3)
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This was a two part session. Flooding afternoon high tide of about 3.2 metres then and ebbing late afternoon high tide of about 3.2 metres (same height in the opposite direction).
Part A saw the morning fog reveal modest swell as it burned off, but the south wind created tough conditions for SUP on the water. Even though I had resigned myself to downwinder from tinies to Lovekin, that strategy didn’t help – I was getting pushed around by the wind and bounced by the chop. I called this session short in frustration. Even the longboard surfers were saying it was a lot of work for what it was.
Part B was a second try to salvage some fun. The wind backed off enough to make positioning easier and the waves cleaner. It was definitely better, but not great.
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S16 - SUP - Long Beach (2023 Aug 4)
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Perfect! Dawn-ish morning session of about 0.5 ebbing to slack zero at Long Beach (you could walk out Lovekin). Waves were open, forgiving (except in the last 100’), runners right and left. Tinies even setup as a bit of point break in reverse offering up rights with a channel to return out. Polar opposite of the punishment dished out yesterday. Even the waves that broke would reform into clean faces on the inside. Wave choice was the pick of the litter and wave count was WAY up! Beautiful morning and super fun! This one session would have made the whole trip worth it all on its own!
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S17 - wavesailing - Long Beach (2023 Aug 4)
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Second session of the day at Long Beach. Afternoon flood of about 3 metres to high slack of about 3.4 metres ebbing to about 3 metres (it seemed like more of a swing in height than that). Intended to do a surf-check at South Chesterman but the sensors were showing light at South Chesterman and Long Beach was on already, so returned back to Long Beach to find fun-sized waves were still pumping. Later Jesse said this must have been that one day of the year when Long Beach had more wind than South Chesterman. Tide was already up to the backside of Incinerator Rock and continuing to flood. One person was out on a wing down at Lovekin (Squamish Johnathan). Sand on the beach was hot to walk on and I started to fear a heat bubble might shut things down and it seemed to be holding the wind off shore a bit making for a glassy looking inside. When I first went out it was really challenging getting out – felt like you were a sitting duck just waiting to be taken out in the impact zone. First try I crossed five pretty healthy waves just to be taken out by the shoulder of the sixth and final wave – long swim back to the beach from deep water. Kept trying with mixed results – both outbound (some rejections) and inbound (some missed waves). Inside wind filled in and outside wind eased a bit as the temps cooled off. Two other wings, Jesse (windsurfing), Ozy (wingsurfing), and Tasmanian Stephan who does rescue work for the PWA events (on my loaned gear) all joined in. Both Ozy and Jesse commented on the wave quality and both were putting them to good use slashing turns and throwing aerials! Riley launch a kite before the fog rolled in and shut the wind down. Fun to be ripping similar waves from the morning SUP session with windsuring gear in the afternoon! Super fun session of real down the line sailing!
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S18 - SUP - Long Beach (2023 Aug 5)
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Window. Morning session of about 0.6 metre slack tide at Long Beach. Travel day so my window was small and made smaller by fog on arrival. The fog lifted and I got three rides before the fog filled in again thick enough that I lost track of where I was along the beach. With the tide being so low it once again felt like you were very far out in the bay when you were at the break – out past Lovekin! Waves were similar to yesterday and pretty forgiving, some offered long open rides, but were a little smaller and some were dumping a little harder. Time to start driving. Grateful for another trip to Tofino/Ukee!
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