La NiNa Again Takes the Rap for Postponed Surf Contest

Chalk up another one for La Nin~a. At Seal Beach, the surf’s down, not up, and the Surfline Surfing Championships have been postponed for a second time.

Originally scheduled for early January and then moved to this past weekend, the second annual community amateur event has been rescheduled for Feb. 5 to 6. According to wave forecaster and surf legend Sean Collins, La Nin~a was partly to blame for the first postponement, along with high bacteria levels. This time, even though bacteria amounts were low enough, the surf was La Nin~a-style flat.

January has been unseasonably bad for big waves, especially in Seal Beach, and Collins says the current storm patterns, coupled with the area’s location, have been factors in the less than ideal surf conditions.

“Strong high-pressure systems west of California have forced storms to go toward Alaska,” said Collins, whose company, Surfline, has been forecasting surf conditions for 25 years. “We forecast all around the world, and Seal Beach is one of the hardest places to forecast surf.”

Islands, even those thousands of miles away, and coastline configuration can affect storm swells that create larger waves in specific areas along the Southern California coast, Collins said. When a storm system is on the other side of Catalina, for example, and headed toward the coast, the island serves as a natural breakwater to reduce the storm swell and the size of the waves, he said.

Seal Beach’s location and its relation to a number of islands means that storm swells need to be headed in only a couple of specific directions in order for large waves to occur, said Collins, 47, a longtime Seal Beach resident and surfer.

“Conditions [for big waves] are good when storms are coming from straight west [of Seal Beach] between the islands of Santa Rosa, San Miguel, Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands, or from the Southern Hemisphere,” Collins said.

During the other famous storm pattern, El Nin~o, Collins described the waves as tremendous. “That produced a better angle [for swells] to get through the offshore islands,” he said.

Collins is considered the premier wave forecaster, not only among surfers, but for anyone needing information on wave conditions. Film crews for movies, TV and commercials have used Collins and Surfline to come up with forecasts and ideal locations for specific projects. Ten years ago, a Budweiser commercial called for good waves and turquoise water. They planned to shoot it in Hawaii. At Collins’ suggestion, the company shot in Fiji instead.

His company’s Internet site, https://surfline.com/ receives a million visits per month, Collins said. The site’s focus is on forecasting conditions in the U.S., Mexico, Carribean and Central America. Also, featured are live “Web-cam” pages from surf spots around the world, including Seal Beach.

So, will surf be up for the locals’ championship rescheduled for nearly two weeks from today? “It can only be better,” Collins said.

Alex Murashko can be reached at (714) 966-5974.