Swell forecast just a call away

Dave Brooks

It’s a mushy day on the south side of the Pier, and swell predictions

are not expected to exceed a few feet -- bad day for a morning surf

session, let alone a big-purse competition.

But the show must go on, and a few competitors paddle out into the

froth. A Huntington Beach surfer gets priority for the first wave, a

small two-footer rolling in about 30 yards out. As he positions

himself, he looks up to his coach, standing above him on the pier.

Using hand gestures, the coach signals the surfer to skip the wave,

then flashes four fingers, followed by a closed fist, and then five.

“A four-footer is coming in five minutes. I should wait,” the

surfer says to himself.

It’s a hypothetical situation, but all the tools are now in place

to make it happen.

Anyone with a wireless device or Internet-enabled cell phone can

now receive exact swell forecasts for the break on the south side of

the Huntington Beach Pier, thanks to o7Surfline.com f7and the

Scripps Research Institute.

It’s the first time o7Surfline.com f7has pinpointed wave

conditions down to a specific surf spot, company founder Sean Collins

said. Using data from a government buoy 2 1/2 miles offshore in about

70 feet of water, Surfline’s website tells visitors exactly when the

next wave is coming and how big it will be.

“We can see when a wave is coming, grab our boards and run across

the street and get into the water right before the wave breaks,”

Collins said of the buoy, which can be viewed at

o7www.surfline.com/buoyf7.

Scripps anchored and maintains the $75,000-buoy, just one of a

network of 26 similar devices off American shores. The buoys provide

average swell height, length between waves, swell direction and water

temperature, all available online at o7cdip.ucsd.eduf7.

“The information is used by the Coast Guard, the Navy -- anyone in

the general maritime community,” Julie Thomas of Scripps Coastal Data

Information Program said. “The Coast Guard uses it for search and

rescue, and harbors use it to direct vessel traffic.”

Most of the buoys transmit data onshore to U.S. Navy facilities

and harbors, but the Surfline office, located directly across from

the Huntington Beach Pier at Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street,

was chosen for the new Orange County buoy.

Using ocean floor maps, Surfline scientists worked with Scripps to

align the buoy in the path of swells that break on the south side of

the pier. The data from the buoy is uploaded to Surfline headquarters

and then sent on to Scripps, but Surfline scientists also have access

to the data. Using a series of complex algorithms, Surfline

scientists transform the buoy data into a near-swell model, allowing

anyone with Internet access to know exactly when waves are going to

hit the pier.

Collins said the data would be most useful during contests. During

last weekend’s U.S. Open of Surfing finals between Rob Machado and

Andy Irons, a laptop allowed Collins to see that a final swell was

coming in during the last seconds of the 30-minute heat.

“There’s no rules against communicating with the surfer,” Collins

said. A spectator on shore with a wireless device could communicate

with the surfer using hand or audio signals, or even a small

earpiece. Collins said he imagines a day when waterproof

Internet-enabled watches will allow surfers to receive forecasts in

the water.

Also during the U.S. Open, Collins said he worked with three-time

world surfing champ Layne Beachley to establish wave and swell

patterns.

Before most heats, Beachley said, she typically spends an hour or

two watching the ocean, timing set frequencies with a stop watch,

monitoring swell directions and wave patterns.

“This technology does all that for you,” she said. “In the U.S.

Open, I paddled out knowing there was a pretty consistent five-minute

gap with two waves a piece, the second wave usually being larger.”

Beachley said she’d like to see the system used in other places

surfers compete, like Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, or Trestles in San

Diego County.

“You still have to have the ability to surf the wave,” she said.

“This just gives us more confidence and allows the very best surfers

to get the very best waves.”

Collins said not to expect more nearshore models for other popular

surf spots any time soon. Besides the prohibitive price tag, Collins

has reservations about changing the nature of the sport

“At what point do you completely take the magic out of surfing?”

said Collins. o7Surfline.com f7only provides general swell forecast

for surfing regions throughout the world, but the surfers must

determine which spots are getting waves.

“There’s so much stuff that we could do that we don’t do,” Collins

said.

Poseidon vote is scheduled for Sept. 6

The biggest political issue of the year will come to a head soon.

The Huntington Beach City Council has tentatively scheduled a

Sept. 6 hearing to consider the Poseidon desalination plant.

Officials from the Connecticut-based company are asking the council

to certify the project’s environmental impact report. The council

will be asked to decide whether the report adequately assesses all of

the environmental impacts of the proposed desalination plant.

The public hearing will be a chance for residents to voice their

opinions about the project, which includes a $250-million facility

behind the AES power plant on Newland Street. Poseidon officials say

the plant will produce 50 million gallons of drinking water per day.

The City Council will hold a special study session on Aug. 22 to

look at issues surrounding the project’s environmental impact report.

Around that same time, Poseidon officials are prepared to release a

series of responses to the public comments made about the report.

City announces deal to save ball fields

Huntington Beach officials have reached a tentative deal with the

Fountain Valley School District to save six ball fields threatened

with residential development, City Councilman Don Hansen announced

Tuesday during a town hall meeting.

Under the plan, the city would be given 5.2 acres of parkland in

exchange for help developing the remaining park space into homes. In

February, the Fountain Valley School board announced plans to sell

several surplus school properties, including Wardlow on Magnolia

Street between Yorktown and Adams avenues. Some of the parkland is

being leased by the Huntington Valley Little League and includes six

state-of-the-art baseball diamonds.

The offer of 5.2 acres wouldn’t be enough to save the fields as

they’re currently aligned, and the city might have to shift some of

the property onto an adjacent 2.3 acre park space.

That plan received a cool reception from the dozens of people in

attendance, many of whom said they felt the offer of 5.2 acres wasn’t

enough and thought the city should ask for more land on the 14-acre

site. Although he didn’t have any specifics, planning director Howard

Zelefsky said Fountain Valley planned to put about 40 homes on the

rest of the park.

The City Council will consider the proposal at their meeting

Monday night. That might not be enough time to get the word out, land

activist Alan Gandall said.

“We should spend a little more time studying the proposal on the

table,” he said.

Hansen said no deal is final and the public will have plenty of

opportunities to participate.

“If this solution does go forward, it doesn’t take away from any

planning considerations,” Hansen said. “Your voices will still get

heard at every stop of the path.”