Sleeper Waves at Sea Ranch

Put in at the boat  launch at Sea Ranch in relatively good conditions 3-5' with my brother.  My brother was outside of what I now call the "Death Zone" when I encountered an  8' swell forming ready to break,  I face it straight on and ride over it just before it breaks.  Closely following behind the 8' is and 11" swell and once again it is forming up to break and once again I ride over it just before it breaks.  Now after the 11'  I look up and see what looks like the Empire State Building  (14') getting ready to crumble down on me.  I make it up about halfway when I realized I wasn't going to make it.  I lay as flat on my board as I can hoping to have it just wash over me, I last about a second when my seat fails and I shoot straight off the back of my board.  I went one way and according to my brother my kayak went shooting straight out the water like a rocket.  Now I am in the water and as I struggle to get my kayak I have 3 more big waves break on me.  After that the ocean was calmer and I decided to thank the lord and call it a day.

Holy Crap! Shit like that can mess you up in short order. Super stoked that nothing more than a scare happened. Those moments stick around for awhile don't they. Dove yesterday a bit to the north of you and noticed that every few minutes or so a hefty set would come through. We were aware of the sets getting larger as we dove and knew the swim back in would be.........Interesting. When the vis got worse, we made the swim in with our dive boards(boogie board). Zack and I immediately ducked a nice wave(nothing compared to the size of waves you encountered)and another appeared right behind. Ducked again and I got sucked over the falls and got plowed, float line ripped out of the board and I nearly lost it. Got hit on the head by a couple more decent waves and laughed as we drug ourselves up onto the sand. Thank the lord the exit was sand. Glad you are ok, brother,

Shannon

Y-i-k-e-s.
happy that you made it out OK. The flying yak must have been a sight to see.

Glad you are ok. What cove did you launch out of? I have been looking at launching out of Sea Ranch and liked Pebble Beach cove the best. Hope you didn't lost too much gear but then again Christmas is coming...

Glad you are ok. What cove did you launch out of? I have been looking at launching out of Sea Ranch and liked Pebble Beach cove the best. Hope you didn't lost too much gear but then again Christmas is coming...

The place we launched from was Shell Beach and it has a place where you can beach launch small inflatibles pbs.  I have launched from there hundreds of times.  I estimate that dump cost me over $500 in gear, with a broken seat, paddle, etc. 

YIKES!
Sure am glad you're OK, sounds like a warm cup of coffee was well deserved after that 
and similar conditions for SRJ, man you guys are working it!!, but could you avoid get all broken and chewed for some time on the water, it makes me cringe.....  (like I can talk )

my first solo launch in the ocean cost a few hundred bucks too sucks so bad

I really hate the sleepers when you get them, sometimes 10 or 20 min between sets....
I wonder what the aspect of these two separate beaches is? well, aspect and bathymetry, but...Since I dont know much about oceanic wave theory, and kinda hate getting washed like that, I wonder if someone here could shed a little light on how to avoid encountering this kind of swell?  Longer pre-launch observation perhaps? some swell-info i dont know about??

jim

I was blown off my malotte at Stillwater north in the 70's by a sleeper. It was just one so Im grateful. Anymore and it would have destroyed my board. Glad to hear that you are Ok. Bigtime. How long did you watch the water before going in? Sometimes theres a BIG set every 5-10 minutes. Must have been fucking scary. PM me when you are going again. I would like to go with you guys.

I was blown off my malotte at Stillwater north in the 70's by a sleeper. It was just one so Im grateful. Anymore and it would have destroyed my board. Glad to hear that you are Ok. Bigtime. How long did you watch the water before going in? Sometimes theres a BIG set every 5-10 minutes. Must have been fucking scary. PM me when you are going again. I would like to go with you guys.

We watched the water for a good half hour before we went in and it looked like it always does, and that is easy.  I was out about a 150 yards from the beach when I got hit.  I have never seen it break that far out.  GDenerally at the worst it breaks about 50 yards out between 2 rock you have to paddle through.

Y-i-k-e-s.
happy that you made it out OK. The flying yak must have been a sight to see.

When my brother seen the yak flying his first thought was that he would be dragging a body out of the water. 

Hi Yakers:

            You have it correct about more on the Beach observation.
A common slogan in Mendo. "Don't turn your Back on the Ocean"
            Most of the Norcal Beaches are NAR-NAR with Huge Shore Break
and Fast Dropoffs .
                                                     Regards
                                                     Ernie
           

Thanks for sharing your experience Jacks.  Glad you're OK.