Fun Christmas eve paddle today. A strong storm front is moving down the coast and pumping up big swell at moderate distance from me. Local winds were only 15-25mph, but the tide and rip currents were very strong from the long fetch.
0.5-2ft local wind waves. 3ft continuous groundswell with regular sets up to 6ft+. Occasional open water breaking waves with the top 1-2ft crumbling.
When exiting/entering the harbor it was extremely technical as the rip current coming out stacked up the waves into steep and 6+ footers with the top 1-2ft breaking regularly, and the current ripping away from the harbor inlet at a 45* angle.
I had an unintentional swim as I was turning around near the worst of the rip zone - I paddled a mile out into the wind and waves and was paddling back surfing an occasional set. I was in the rip current exiting the harbor break wall and hit a set of 4 monster waves stacking up against the rip. I got 4 back-to-back surfs which was crazy. The wave was very steep and 4 times in a row I went “over the edge” of the crest and slingshot’d down the wave face.
The smaller 2’ wind waves were stacked up in between the 6 foot groundswell and I took back-to-back-to-back fire hose-to-the-face blasts as the bow buried uncontrollably into the smaller waves moving through the swell and the wave deflector turned the torrent of water into a face-blaster of epic porportions. It took all my wits to keep the boat perpendicular to the wave as I could hear more in the set crashing behind me.
Anyways, at the end of this set I was just inside the break wall and the rip dissipated, which made the waves less surfable, so I turned around to go back out and have another run. exactly half way through the turn around a big wave caught my stern and lightly broached me. I was tired and still reveling in the face-blasting run and was a split second late on a hard brace.
In I went, on the wrong side (down-wind / down-wave). Luxkiuly the primary set had just gone through and I turned outside the rip so the ocean was washed out and pretty flat all things considered. I took a moment to setup the remount properly, knowing the off-side would require a tad more finesse, and nailed the first attempt.
I paddle in conditions where I would prefer not to swim as often as possible, but when the ‘S hits the fan’, having a bombproof recovery is at the core of my paddling ethos.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas.
https://imgur.com/a/1gYgEwU
Here is about a mile off shore as I turned around. The rip is nonexistent here and the conditions flatten out significantly compared to within 1/2 mile of the break wall. The groundswell is nice and flat with minimal stacking. Sorry for a jerky video, Im balancing a 18" boat and trying to film 
