We are smack in the middle of the spring surf season, and here's the thing: One characteristic of the season is the reoccurring extra low tides in the morning hours. Check the tide chart above, courtesy of http://tbone.biol.sc.edu Web interface by Dean Pentcheff, calculations and graphics by David Flater's XTide Program BTW, this is my favorite tide URL, it's so flexible and has locations for most anywhere you want to surf.

You can see that Saturday morning includes a low tide of -1 foot at 921AM, while Sunday includes a low tide of -0.5 feet at 1025AM. This is fairly typical for this time of year, and it presents a challenge to surfers.

So what's up with low tide surfing in Surf City North? A general rule for low tide might be this: Surf is good in town, and not-so-good out of town.

Most surf spots in town, from south to north, are cliff breaks. At high tide, the waves smash the cliff faces, so surfing in these conditions is a non-issue. The premier spots like the Lane and the Point are exceptions to this, but other less known breaks mostly fall into this category.

So they all come alive on a low tide, when the water level backs down, and the waves break further from the shore as they hit the reefs. On a low tide, East Cliff Drive and West Cliff Drive are almost end-to-end combinations of surf breaks.

Out of town, the general case is the opposite. Most spots are point breaks that fire from medium to high tides. As the tide lowers, the kelp gets to be intrusive as it floats along the surface of the break zone, and the reef starts to poke through the water to create real hazards to surfing. Of course there are exceptions. Some places in town and out of town are beach breaks that follow their own rules (think shifty sand bars).

Still, you can walk onto the reefs north of town at the minus low tide, and stand where the water will be overhead in depth at the high tide. The exposed reef is covered with sharp lipped muscles, slippery sea grass and kelp. It's a hazard walking to the edge of the water.

The local surfers have the savvy to deal with these different conditions, knowing which breaks to surf on which tides. It also takes some creativity, since some places that aren't really surf breaks at all will start to peel on the right swell at the right tide level.

It's all part of being an accomplished surfer in Surf City North.

CU Out There,

DogMan