Taking in the waves off Ocean Beach on Tuesday, words like “Hang Ten” come to mind, at least to those of us of a certain age. Today’s younger surfers have a whole different vocabulary to describe these waves.
“It’s firing right now! I mean, can’t miss it," said Sam Garoutte, a 13-year old surfer .
Garoutte knows these firing waves came from thousands of miles away.
“Dude it was solid, swells moving in — although I read it was code reds hittin’ Hawaii and everything, so waves finally coming over here. I’m stoked!" he said.
"Yeah, it was pretty nice. Caught a few waves," said Fin Rohnow, a 14-year old surfer.
These waves did come by way of Hawaii. But they started much farther away. The waves have their origin in a storm off the coast of New Zealand. That was more than a week ago. This weekend, they made their way to the Hawaiian islands, where they made for happy surfers, but unhappy wedding guests. One huge wave crashed over a seawall and wiped out a buffet meal being enjoyed at a wedding party.
About two days later, they arrived on our shores. The National Weather Service’s Alex Tardy said our current high surf is due to an unusual mix of weather conditions.
“It appears we had a combination of a southern hemisphere storm, a winter storm — which sounds weird I know — and a hurricane, Darby. Both of those had a big impact on Hawaii on Sunday. They had reports of up to 15 feet on the big island," he said.
He said the “solid” surf might stick around until Thursday. Then, it’s back to the relatively gentle San Diego surf and memories of an unusual mix of conditions that, for a brief time, turned San Diego beaches into a surfer’s paradise.
