Santa Cruz Storm Surge

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

OK, What are you Santa Cruz, CA. guys finding.  That storm surge is crazy good!  GaryC/Oregon Coast

[Doc Bach]

They are probably waiting for things to calm down.Otherwise it's a surefire way to go see Jesus.☠️

[Tom_in_CA]

Yesterday, Santa Cruz main beach (Boardwalk), had the following phenomenon occur :  Whenever epic ingredients like this coincide (high tide coincide with monster swell ), a phenomenon known as "overpowering" can occur .  Where :  Instead of the beach eroding DOWN , at a certain parallel (to create cuts or slopes or scallops), instead the water merely washes up into the previously high & dry sand dunes.  And brings down all that fluffy sand into the inter-tidal zone.   So now you just have scattered clad.  And puddles and lagoons inland (parking lots flooded and strewn with seaweed, etc...).  

 

This is what happened to the S. Cruz main beach yesterday (and Cowells and Seabright) :  It just "flattened" the beach.   Same with Palm beach in Watsonville so far.  I got some scattered clad, but it was immediately apparent that I was going to need to scout.   Finally ended up by ~4pm at New Brighton.   Which was eroded correctly and lots of targets were showing up.  Including some silver coins (even a nice 1871 seated dime) was showing up among the 4 hunters.  A few gold jewelry items. 

 

So the tactic next, based on my 45 yrs. "storm chasing" experience, is this :  That in the subsequent days following an epic event (which "flattens" rather than "erodes"), you merely check back in the subsequent days.  EVEN if things have calmed down in those subsequent days.   And lo & behold, what can sometimes happen is that mother nature readjusts her slopes (with the intervening high/low tide cycles) .  To fill in voids off shore.  In other words, there WAS erosion occurring at the epic day, but that :  It was happening off-shore where we can't visually see it.  Then in the subsequent days, mother nature robs sand off the inter tidal zone, to fill in those off-shore voids.  And THEN the slopes occur.   

 

Does that make sense ?   So if any central coast CA people are reading this, and want to take a shot at it, I'd try S. Cruz main (and the various other beaches nearby) by Saturday PM's low tide .  Because another swell bump is happening Saturday, and is more south facing anyhow.   Scout them all, from Cowells, southward to Watsonville.   Look for indentations where the low/damp/wet spots indent further into the beach than elsewhere.  And where you see abnormally steep slopes, or scallops, or cuts.  

 

And best of all :  Send me 20% of all your finds (I accept paypal  🙂 )

 

 

[Tom_in_CA]

12 hours ago, Doc Bach said:

They are probably waiting for things to calm down.Otherwise it's a surefire way to go see Jesus.☠️

 

Hey there Doc, do you ever find Phoenix buttons up your way ?

[Compass]

12 hours ago, Doc Bach said:

They are probably waiting for things to calm down.Otherwise it's a surefire way to go see Jesus.☠️

I didn't see Jesus yesterday but I think I heard angels singing. I'm quite a bit south of Santa Cruz in Orange County and the surf was pretty big here as well on west facing beaches - 10ft to 15ft. I didn't do near as well as Tom but I did get another silver T & Co. ring. Surf is supposed to be bigger tomorrow.

[Doc Bach]

Good stuff Compass! Just goes to show that there are always work arounds and more than one way to skin a cat.

[Skate]

The nanny state here in Ventura has taken the steps of closing down access to the beach out of an abundance of caution. I'm sure it'll be like it was in 2020 when we were threatened with arrest if we stopped for more than 10 seconds while on the beach. 

The main problem for me during events like this is the amount of debris that gets washed up on shore. Last weeks heavy rains put a ton of broken branches and trees at the ready to be washed out and then back into the beach. Just being able to swing and walk can be an issue due to the volume of sticks and logs. 

The rogue wave that hit Seaward Ave yesterday is a perfect example of why the Darwin awards were created. It's because of these people we can't have nice stuff.  

[Tom_in_CA]

20 minutes ago, Skate said:

.... I'm sure it'll be like it was in 2020 when we were threatened with arrest if we stopped for more than 10 seconds while on the beach.....

Uh, they can *say* dire sounding crap like that.  But ask yourself (and be honest) :  Do you know of ANYONE who has ever been "arrested" for stepping onto the beach when this has happened ?   I mean, sure, give "lip service" when you bump into the lifeguards and rangers , at the parking lot harping "beach closed".   But .... if someone makes their way down via other endless ways in (stairways elsewhere, cross-country through paths or alleys, etc...) have you EVER heard of an md'r or surfer being "arrested" ?  

 

I been "scrammed" a few times (like during the January 2023 event, and the 1996-97 event).  We just hiked in to our desired zones via coming in from the south or north, blah blah .   But ARRESTED ?  No.

 

And besides :   The low tides right now are happening after dark / sunset time.   Right ?   And who sees down there in the dark ?  Who is "down there patrolling" in the dark ?   So peaceful.   So serene.   Just go.

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

I can always count on Tom and Compass to find the good stuff.  If that happened to my beach here in Or. it wouldn't reveal any coins because people here just don't sit on the beach much, too cold.  Now 60+ miles north is a different story.  Thanks for the update. GaryC/Oregon Coast

[CalReg]

On the heels of Tom's comments, I hunted Seabright Beach which is just across the way from the main Boardwalk Beach. I arrived a few hours before low tide and could clearly see that the King Tides pushed the surf all the way to the steps that lead to the street (about 200 feet). There was a lot of debris left from the storm surge, but surprisingly, there wasn't much in the way of cuts or scallops. At that point, I might have driven to another beach, but traffic was so bad driving up to Seabright, I decided to give it a shot. There were a lot of targets, but mostly recent clad. I did find some costume jewelry-a ring that I thought might have been gold, but there weren't any markings inside. I'm going to try another beach further south tomorrow and give it a shot. In the meantime, here is a picture of what I found.