On the coattails of a historic Santa Ana wind and wildfire event, the winter outlook for Southern California leaves precipitation to be desired. We are off to one of the driest starts to the water year on record, and the return of the West Coast ridge, along with typical climatology during weak to moderate La Nina events aren’t indicative of significant SoCal precipitation. This will generally be favorable for conditions through much of the winter, though the thought of less precipitation and the potential for more offshore wind events won’t rest easy on most.

In addition to the return of robust ridging along the West Coast limiting precipitation, the pattern often lends to less consistent WNW/NW swells as stronger lows are within our swell window further away. Coupled with a similar pattern during La Nina winters that keeps lows strongest from Hawaii west, and periodically dropping down from the Pacific Northwest, size through the winter will often cap out in the fun (as opposed to solid) range. The silver lining through December will be the continuation of modest SSW/S swells keeping anything fun from the North Pacific peaky. Through January and into February swell from the South Pacific is at a yearly minimum. While this general rule should stand, we anticipate above-average output from the basin, largely on the shoulders of December.

New WNW/NW Swell, Surf Picks Back Up Wave heights for North/Central CA through SoCal Wednesday.

New WNW/NW swell mix builds down the coast Tues and peaks mid-week
Solid size for North/Central California; Smaller/modest size for SoCal
Morning winds mostly favorable - except for Wednesday - onshore flow for some
More WNW swell due to fill in, then fade over the upcoming weekend

Fun to Solid WNW Swell Continues LOLA wave heights off California Friday morning. .

Medium to solid WNW swell Friday and Saturday
Good winds Friday, more problematic Saturday
Easing surf Sunday, reinforcing WNW swell next week
AM winds looking favorable early next week

The Surf Story Project is coming to SQN Sport Malibu for a “Surf Story Vol. II” book signing & Art show Saturday, December 16th from 12-4pm. Come stop by for beautiful art, photography, good stories, shopping, and great company!

Malibu's Surfing With Ben will be there with some of his favorite surf prints on display.

The 24th Annual Venice Surf-A-Thon was held on Saturday, once again taking place at the Venice Pier. The contest is a grassroots local tradition that has evolved from a mentorship gathering for youth beset by gang violence to an inter-generational celebration of community.

As usual, the heats are sort of mixed up, they just kind of happen. There's a Groms heat and a Super Groms heat, both of which usually try to go off the earliest. Super Groms had the youngest surfer in the contest's 24 year history. Jacob Packham, being assisted by his dad.


Full gallery filled with high resolution photos of this heat, check out the Super Groms Photo Gallery


Even though they were judged separately, the girls surfed alongside the boys in some mixed Groms and Juniors Heats.










There's a big gallery of full-size high resolution photos from these heats in the Mixed Groms & Juniors Photo Gallery



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Good WNW Swell and Favorable Morning Winds Current state of the North Pacific = good to solid surf for the West Coast.

Overlapping pulses of good to solid WNW swells
Background SSW swell through Wednesday, dropping after that
Favorable offshore AM winds for most, some offshore all day

Saturday Dec 16th, join photographer William Sharp for his launch and signing of his new book BACK IN THE DAY, at Dogtown Coffee in Santa Monica, 3-5pm. Legend Tony Alva will be there to sign books, plus a free, one of a kind print of Tony, given to everyone who buys the book that night.



If you’re into skateboarding or want to know what it was like back in the late 1970’s skate scene you want to get this book, BACK IN THE DAY can alos be pre-ordered online at Amazon

Bruce Brown, the most iconic surf filmmaker of all time who brought “ The Endless Summer” to the world, passed away in his sleep yesterday. He was 80 years old.

Brown was born in San Francisco, California, in 1937 and found surfing at age 10 after moving to Long Beach with his family. It was there in Southern California that Brown fell in love with surfing and got his first taste of surf cinema, attending screenings of early Bud Browne surf films at his local auditorium. It wasn’t until 1955, when Brown was stationed on a Navy submarine in Honolulu, that he created his first surf film, a Super-8 short.

Early surfboard magnate Dale Velzy purchased Brown his first 16-millimeter movie camera, which he used to shoot the full-length film “Slippery When Wet.” The film was well received on the burgeoning surf film premiere circuit in large part because of the fun, lighthearted narration that would become a touchstone of all of Brown’s work.

Brown would go on to make four more surf films, including “Surfing Hollow Days,” which documented Phil Edwards surfing the first Pipeline wave ever ridden on film, before he set out to make his most ambitious movie yet. “ The Endless Summer” was filmed on a $50,000 budget in 1963 and starred Mike Hynson and Robert August on a journey around the world searching for “the perfect wave.” While “ The Endless Summer” may appear to be a simple travel documentary, Brown’s charming narration and the story of seeking and discovering perfection and adventure around every turn spoke to core surf and mainstream audiences alike. The film was a massive commercial success upon its wide release in 1966, and is seen as the most iconic surf film of all time, inspiring countless surfers to hit the road in search of their own perfect wave.

In the following years, Brown worked on several other projects, including the 1971 Oscar-nominated motorcycle movie “On Any Sunday,” before going into retirement. Brown didn’t work on another film project until 1992 when he directed “The Endless Summer II,” a sequel that he co-wrote with his son Dana.

Ocean Park had some decent waves on Sunday. Here's a few photos from shot by Six12 Media














There are a lot more photos from this day, all full size and in high-resolution, in the Ocean Park - Sunday 12-10-2017 Gallery.

Wanna see photos from previous days at this and other surf spots?
Click Surf Spot Galleries for a list of past days.