The scenario is played out up and down the Texas coast every fall. It’s the reason Texas surfers get so excited when the fall and winter fronts start to roll through. Strong onshore flow builds disorganized wind swell. Then mild to strong offshore winds associated with a passing front clean up the waves and give it the ridable form we all desire. These are some of the thought processes the surfers go through with the passing of each front. How long and how strong will the onshore winds blow? What are the wave heights at the bouys? Where are the best sand bars? How fast will the front pass through the coast? How strong will the winds be? What direction is the swell coming from? How strong will the current be? What time will the wind switch? Where will the best conditions be for a long board or a short board? Where will the smallest crowd be, and how can I get there?
These are all questions Texas surfers ask themselves before they decide on when and where to go. Regardless of what one decides, one must remember that Mother Nature is in charge, and she always has a mind of her own. The ultimate goal is to score some fun waves with friends and to elevate the stoke meter for another session.
This rite of fall passage occurred twice this week. First on a Monday, with the front passing across the coast around noon with light offshore winds for about an hour followed by some stronger winds that went more northeast in the afternoon. Saturday the scenario was different. The front came through early in the morning with strong northerly winds gusting to 40 mph all day. In this situation, the less volume the board has makes it a bit easier to paddle into a wave. Once the board is up on the wave, the wind has less of a chance to get under the board to slow it down. The wind also hollows out the wave which gives the surfer a chance to get a coverup and make it out. This is a maneuver surfers love and travel the world to achieve.
I shot some video of the last frontal passage on Saturday “Somewhere In Texas” as the surfers fought the strong offshore winds. At times the 40 mph winds almost blew me over. As you will see in the video, the gusty winds made the more radical maneuvers a little difficult to complete. Just paddling into the waves was a challenge as is evident by the number of surfers who went over the falls. When first editing the footage, I was hesitant to put in wipe outs and incomplete maneuvers. I decided I wanted to give the viewer an idea of just how difficult these conditions can be, so I included a lot of raw footage. This made the video longer than most of my videos, but I feel it made it more realistic and entertaining.
I hope you enjoy the video. Feel free to leave a comment and subscribe.
Until we meet on the next swell, God bless you and have a Merry Christmas!
Tim Lumpkin
Blog: Legacy-outdoors.net
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