2013 Rotator Archive Stories

As I drove up and down the coast Thursday looking for waves - to which I found none - I thought about this past swell as I drove past flat break after flat break.  All I could think about was "this place was just firing a few days ago." Then I thought, "Man, there was so much going on I'm going to check it out again."

Surprisingly, on Tuesday morning, the dying swell from last weekend was still hanging around with the small NNW back-up swell hitting, putting sets head high to a foot overhead. The sun broke through the cloud bank mid-morning and made for a mostly sunny day. It would be hard to believe this swell will be around at all Wednesday and surf should

Monday beach gloom was the start to the day, but if you could see through the mist you would have seen waves pumping some 6-feet towers on the shoreline. As the day moved, on the swell backed off. By 5 p.m. there were only slight pulses of what was a great weekend swell that kept us all happy and close to, if not completely, surfed out. Next few

This weekend was the opening weekend for what might be shaping up to be one of the strongest spring seasons in years. Sunday was the peak of the swell, with most south facing beaches hitting 4- to 6-foot surf. Lowers Sunday evening was pumping beautiful long rights and lefts up to 6 feet on the sets with very little down time in between.

The new SSW swell started filling in nicely Friday in Orange County, with most beaches showing the increase in wave heights – but you had to find the break that didn't have morning sickness if you surfed early. Newport Beach looked like another dumpy day early this morning with not much to be had until around 10 a.m. when the tide

For almost a week now, the coast has been socked in with low clouds and coastal fog, which makes for no surf photography in the early parts of the day. But there seems to be a nice little burn-off going on in the late afternoon/early evening that's been fun to surf and shoot two days in a row. Huntington Beach local Brad Ettinger was out

The mid-period swell due in Tuesday came in the evening up and down the coast. By 2 p.m. signs of the south, southwest started to roll through, bumping the surf up two or three feet and by the evening, surf was a solid 3 feet with a few 4-footers. Swell fills in Tuesday night and runs through the next day with 3- to 4-foot surf with a couple 5-f

Monday was just another sign that Mother Nature put the breaks on spring getting here early. As the cold front started moving through in the morning, the coastal air temperature started to drop and the day looked as gloomy as the first day of winter. Surf is on the rise, heading for the 3- to 4-foot range, but you might want to hit it ea

The 2013 BNP Paribas Open concluded March 16-17 with the tournament's best tennis in front of wildly cheering at-capacity crowds.The men's final featured a battle between Rafael Nadal (Spain #5) and Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina #7). Nadal earned a spot in the finals by defeating Roger Federer (Switzerland #2) and Thomas Berdych (

Orange County surfers took home three of five titles during the Surfing America Prime Surf Series finals, which ran Sunday on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. The contest kicked off on Saturday, with the finals hel

Thursday night was supposed to be historic: Roger Federer(SUI) was to play Rafael Nadal(SP) in the quarterfinals – a sunset dual of two tennis legends. A capacity crowd of 16,000 awaited the arrival of their heros and thunderous applause and cheering greeted the arrival of the friendly combatants. Historically, Nadal has an edg

All indicators point to spring being near, with clocks springing forward this past Sunday and sunny skies, and most of all, combo after combo swell lined up for the week. Monday morning witnessed the first of several swells to hit Orange County from both the SSW and the NNW directions. Peaky lines with no wind gave birth to fun to real fun condi

The final day of the NSSA State Championships fired off in perfect 3- to 4-foot surf on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. The college, high school and middle school finals had the kids catching close to perfect waves and riding them for some high scores. "Did we score or what?!" said NSSA Executive Director Janice Arag

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A chill in the air at the beach today as the winds kicked in early and kept the temperature down. Today was the second day of competition in the NSSA State Championships on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. Still a lot of swell in the water, which gave the kids plenty of head high waves to ride. Today's standouts and moving on to tomo

The clearing skies and windy day made for a crisp winter day in Huntington Beach. NSSA North America set up shop today on the south side of the pier for a long States Finals weekend. The college rounds ran today with the high schools and middle schools hitting the beach tomorrow. Sunny days ahead with more combo swells lining up for the weekend

You got to love it when storms seem to cooperate with you, as this storm did by slowing down and not coming around until the late evening hours Thursday. The sun did make a small appearance around 4 p.m. for those out surfing the victory-at-sea conditions. Sets came in on the bigger side, hitting 5 to 6 feet on north side of the Huntingt

Hmmm, the last thing I heard on the local late night news was, "Rain tomorrow with partly cloudy skies." But when I was awoken from sleep at 6 a.m. by Teddy Navarro laughing at me for still being in bed, it was a different story.   "Where are you, Hawaiian?" he yelled at me on the phone. "It's firing and the sun's out!" I ro

The second stop of the Arnette Cash Pot Surf Series went down Sunday, March 3rd at Blackies in Newport Beach. The surfers made the most of the 1-2 foot conditions and the competition in the water was fierce with high scores and big turns from the groms and pros. The 16 and Under division final was the heat of the day with Griffin Foy j

The Katin Surf Shop Seal Beach Surf Contest started Saturday, running through the weekend, with the first day gracing us with some beautiful weather. Waves on the micro small side, but with this contest it's not really about the ride it's about the family and friends environment, with mostly Seal Beach locals and a few HB surfers surfing heats a

There are reasons why we pay the high rents and mortgages and today was one of them. It was only 7 a.m. Friday morning when I started to peel back the layers of clothing. The surf looked fun up and down the coast with this combo filling in nicely. Huntington Beach was bigger than the rest of the county but a little walled, you had to pick and ch

What a day in Orange County! The heat is back (thank you Mother Nature) and the swell is up. The warm weather and rising swell even brought out local TV station NBC Channel 4 to Huntington Beach to get the story and make the noon report. Local shredders and weekend warriors hit the lineups in full force making for some very packed peaks as the f

The summer-like conditions continued today but with a cold start to the morning. The swell from the north stayed strong with a new reinforcing NNW filling in throughout the day along with a small SSW pulse starting to show signs. The surf in north Orange County was workable this morning coming in at 3 feet. Once again, as it did Tuesday, the win

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Orange County surf is on the rise, with Tuesday being the first of many coming days of head high to overhead surf. A very big high tide surge this morning with a near full moon peaked at 9:05 a.m., but didn't hurt the incoming swell as it rolled right over it and set up some great rides from the outside running through to the inside double up.