Fog Causes Woz Headaches
In his two forecasts for the Finals Series, Craig mentioned that an inconsistent swell may play havoc with competitors. However, it wasn't infrequent waves but another secondary weather effect that stymied contestants.
After being green lit, with all emails and media being sent out to prepare for the final day of competition, a thick bank of fog - a marine layer - swept across Trestles.
The marine layer is caused when warm, mosit air meets cool water, creating a surface layer of thick mist. It more commonly occurs during May and June - 'June gloom' - though appearances into September aren't unheard of.
After putting competition on hold for an hour, at 8:30 am (local time) the Woz decided to cancel it for the day, keeping a yellow alert in place for tomorrow.
"This fog is not lifting so it's not possible for us to see right now," said Jessi Miley-Dyer, Woz SVP of Tours and Head of Competition.
"Tomorrow and the next day both look really good, and that's what makes us really confident in this forecast. The swell is supposed to pick up throughout today and I think between tomorrow and the next day there is a really good chance to run. Hopefully we won't have this fog issue tomorrow and the waves will be pumping."
Comments
They should have just run it in the arvo so we can watch!
June gloom is such a buzz kill. Imagine the heady days of summer being submerged under a blanket of fog. Not quite the same day at the beach compared to the Oz sunshine.
My pasty skin would be thankful.
With tomorrow's sea and air temps very similar and no intervening wind, there's a possibility the fog will be there tomorrow too.
The Wozzle needs to expose Elo’s uber ultra superduper totally natural looking white teeth to burn away the fog and illuminate the scene.
Give us a big Ol’ Oklahoma grin there Eric, show us everyone of those 300 oversized Seppo chompers and let there be light!
More effective than the lights of the MCG.
Anyone spent a summer in California? From afar the reality seems well short of the Hollywood hype. Brown sand, two hundred lane freeways , steamers and offshore oil rigs……urgghh.
Beach blanket bingo? Looks more like wet blanket bingo.
Spent 6 weeks one summer in the La Jolla area of San Diego (before bailing to Mex) years ago and it was often foggy for days on end. Got great waves at Blacks and a variety of different spots.
Surfed one wave (I think in the Sunset Cliffs area) called New Break where the crew surfed Skip Frye fishes. While in the water was told by a local guy " no-one surfs with a leash here dude!"... I dutifully obliged, paddled back in, took off my leggie. Was thanked by the same dude for doing so, when I paddled back out!
Excellent diplomacy. Cheers.
Cali was always a stop over for a few days on the way to Mexico where the real adventure starts.
I lived in LA for a year.
Yeah the beaches for the most part are dull and pretty featureless. water is cold and silty. private beaches and private access feels so wrong. but the waves are often really clean and groomed.
There are some beaches to the north -- such as zuma which are nice. and yeah seeing oil rigs everywhere is a real buzz kill. I never minded the freeways as I rode a motorbike -- the lanes are really wide. it's great on the freeways at night -- you move fast and float above the lights of the city. the fog is really nice -- super thick. it's usually all gone by 11.
the worst thing is the weather -- really hot and dry and every day is exactly the same. no big storms that bring in a change and clean things up. no thunder or lightning. the only notable weather feature is Santa Anna winds which are super hot and dry dust storms.
the unrelating suburbia and car/mall culture is loathsome. some really nice houses and architecture and the place was dirt cheap to live when I was there. great Mexican food and amazing weed. the surrounding snow-capped San Gabriel mountain and deserts of Joshua tree are really beautiful. But generally it's hell. Meanwhile up the coast a few hundred kilometres, Northern California is the most beautiful place on earth.
That was great to read. Doesn't sound like my kettle of fish at all. But north and south..
Great summation. Appreciate the insight. Thanks.
Elo showed his hand didn't he...….what really matters. But of course I want to see the event so it makes sense.
Fog in California during september! How unusual , who would have thought that could happen......
Hire choppers as giant fans....
Forecast for tomorrow is similar, variable winds and fog likely in the morning with high relative humidity.
Can't remember the last time it was foggy at Pipe. Just sayin'.....
Looking at the cam replay it looks like the fog cleared enough at about 10:30am. Still some rippable walls rolling through at 6pm. How long do they need to run it?
About 8-9 hrs i think. Sounds like they don't really have a choice but to wait for the fog to lift tomorrow. Hopefully the S component in the wind FR76 mentioned will help.
I wonder if they would consider overlapping heats with Men & Women. Could be good if there's long waits and multiple waves in set.
Thanks for that.
Couldn't they get the Brazo contingent to pray the fog away?
Maybe the fog will lift just enough that the judges can see Morgs hacks but not the Brazos in the air
I reckon this is our only chance at a win.
Love your logic and thinking. Let’s go a step further and run it in the dark with low level lighting that doesn’t capture anything if the full board go higher than the lip. Solves for a Morgs win and I can watch while pretending to work.
The farken fog monster came to town.....
Ya carnt script this !
EPIC.
What are the odds of the fog clearing and the contest running at midday (ie. 5am our time)?
It sounded like the fog cleared today but it wasn't good enough to run it, but tomorrow will be bigger.
Yeah be gone by then.
An omen no doubt,swell but can't see the action in the water!Are the surf gods trying to tell the WOZ something???