Surf Spot Monitoring Training

Tom CookSurfrider Foundation

San Diego Chapter

Motivation

• Project Goal is to provide an assessment of San Diego County surf spots and their response to beach fill from SANDAG’s Regional Beach Sand Project II (RBSPII).

• RBSP II brought 1.5 million cubic yards of sand to 8 San Diego county beaches.

• More info at http://sandag.org/beachsand

RBSP II Receiver Beaches

Surf Spot Monitoring

• During scoping and environmental review of the project, Surfrider and other local groups contributed comments to the design and extent of the project.

• During the permit hearing at the California Coastal Commission (CCC), Surfrider requested that Surf Spot monitoring be a part of the physical sediment monitoring.

• CCC agreed, but did not require SANDAG to be responsible, rather placing the responsibility with volunteer groups, specifically Surfrider Foundation.

Surf Spot Monitoring methods

• Surf Spot monitoring utilizes a video camera network which consists of 5 video cameras placed at surf spots nearby RBSP II receiver beaches.

• Volunteers review daily video clips and report the surf quality conditions.

• Video clips are taken every day at 8am.

Surf Spot Monitoring camera locations

• Moonlight Beach• Cardiff Reef• Tide Park (Tabletops Reef)• Fletcher Cove• Imperial Beach Pier South Side

SurfriderCameras

SurfriderCameraNetwork

Surf Quality Parameters

• Surfer Counts– Stand Up Paddle Count– Bodyboard/Bodysurf Count

• Number of Waves Ridden• Maximum Ride Length• Wave Breaking Direction

– Lefts or Rights• Wave Face Steepness• Wave Breaker Type

Surfer Counts

• Volunteer will count total number of surfers once towards the beginning and once towards the end of the 10 minute clip. The average value is reported as Surfer Count.

• Surfer counts also include a count of Stand up Paddle Boarders and Bodyboarders/Bodysurfers.

Number of Waves Ridden

• Volunteer will count of the number of waves ridden over the observation period.

• If surfer stands up or catches the wave it counts.– A wipeout on take off counts.

• A measure of consistency, related to surf zone wave period.

• Some high quality swells may be inconsistent.– South swell often has a long time in between sets.– But often many waves in a set.

Maximum Ride Length

• Length of time in seconds for the longest ride in 10 minute clip.

• Count stops when surfer rides off screen.• Longer rides are indicative of better surf

quality.

Wave Breaking Direction

• Refers to the direction that the surfer travels, relative to the surfer.

• Right vs Left• Looking at video, a Right is where the surfer rides from the

right hand of the screen towards the left.• a Left is where the surfer rides from the left hand of the screen

towards the right.• Using a scale from 0-3.

– 0 = no lefts/rights– 1 = some/poor quality lefts/rights– 2 = medium/good quality lefts/rights– 3 = all/excellent quality lefts/rights

Wave Face Steepness

• Surfer vocabulary for the shape of the wave face.

• Volunteer will choose one from the list• Mushy – Crumbly soft wave without any

steepness or much energy• Hollow – a wave with a barrel or tube forming• Steep – fast breaking wave, but not barreling• Dumping – hard breaking wave, typically

breaking all at once

Wave Face Steepness   

Hollow orSteep

Mushy

Wave Face Steepness  

Dumping

Wave Breaker Type

• Description of how the wave breaks along the sandbar, reef or point.

• Volunteer will choose one of the following list:– Peeling– Close out– Walled– Sectioning– Backing off– Not Breaking– Peaky

Wave Breaker Types

• Not Breaking: Essentially flat. No rideable surf.• Backing off: The action of a wave as it passes from shallow

water into deeper water closer to shore. The wave becomes less steep, or the broken whitewater fades away. Tends to occur shoreward of offshore reefs or sandbars. The wave may reform and break again in even shallower water closer to shore.

• Peaky: A wave with a distinctly higher central point of the wave, tapering down smaller toward the shoulders or sides of the wave. A peak will offer rides to go both left and right with most rides starting from the center of the peak. Similar to an A-Frame.

Wave Breaker Types

• Peeling: A wave condition in which the wave breaks perfectly from takeoff all the way down the line, the lip creating a curve or arc of similar angle from start to finish.

• Sectioning: A surf condition in which waves approach the beach and break apart into different peaks/lines with a clear separation between the rideable shoulders.

• Walled: Not quite closing out. Surfers can ride a short distance before the end of the wave. Somewhere between Sectioning and Closed Out.

• Close out: When all parts of the wave-down the line or crest of the wave-break at the same time. Generally avoided by all surfers.

Accessing Video Clips

• Volunteers will be assigned a camera with a unique login.

• Volunteers will use the Milestone Xprotect client to access video.

• Volunteers will look at a 10 minute clip starting at 8am.• If the 8am recording is not available, use an earlier or

later recording for that day.• If no recordings exist for the day, please email

tom@surfridersd.org with the details (camera & date).

Installing Milestone X Protect software

• Client only runs on Windows• If you don’t have Windows, Surfrider can help

install a virtual Windows machine on your Mac.• Milestone software can be downloaded from

http://corp1.coastalcoms.com/installation• Download installer file and run installer.• Use http://corp1.coastalcoms.com as server.• User login and password will be provided by email.• Contact tom@surfridersd.org with any problems.

Recording Daily Reports

• Volunteers will use the Surf Spot monitoring google forms to input data.

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEJHYUhMMWtoRGQ4NmRlSndrSGRINWc6MA

• Please make sure to type your name and date correctly.

Recording Daily Reports (cont)

• Form is 3 sheets long.• Hit Continue at bottom of page to move to

next page.• Tide and Wind Info on Page 3 is optional• Don’t forget to hit submit on last page.

Volunteer Responsibilities

• We are asking for a 6 month commitment, but can work with your individual schedules.

• Please try to record reports within 2 weeks of the observation date.

• If you are away, or too busy to record reports, please contact tom@surfridersd.org ASAP.

• If you are no longer able to contribute, please contact tom@surfridersd.org ASAP.