Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Does salt content affect how fast a surfer can surf?

Dear M.A.:

Tropical waves are "faster," allowing for smaller, thinner boards and more fun. Up north it's like surfing with the emergency brake stuck on. It's the salt. The spray from northern waves often smells fresh, like mist from a garden sprinkler. How much more salt is there (on average) in equatorial ocean water than, say, the Pacific off of San Francisco?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Lance McDougal, Ocean Beach

Worked like a moondoggie on this one. Scripps scientists, people who surf and then write about it for Surfing and Surfer, ordinary people who surf and don't write about it... Almost all confirm your observations about the tropical "fun" factor. But the salt explanation? I couldn't find anyone to support it. There is a difference in salinity in various parts of the world's oceans, but the spread is minuscule and wouldn't have anything to do with speed on a wave.

I don't expect you to buy this at all, Lance. In the 60, 70 years I've been pushing this rock up the Reader hill, I've noticed something about surfers. Each has his/her particular world view and doesn't take kindly to being challenged by a nonsurfer. When we identified the famous Hawaii Five-0 wave as having been filmed at Rockpile, on the north shore of Oahu, we were pelted with messages from outraged surfers who were sure they had the correct answer, and it wasn't Rockpile. They'd studied the wave on their tiny TV screens for years and arrived at their own conclusions, supported with excruciating descriptive detail, and they didn't want their particular apple carts upset. Never mind that we'd talked to the guy who'd actually filmed it.

So when I say it's the tropics themselves, not the salt, I don't expect you to buy it. One informant at Surfing magazine has noticed the same phenomenon you did and asked Scripps scientists about it and was told the same thing I was. Worldwide, dissolved salts in parts per thousand are between 32 and 37 -- lowest at the poles, highest south of the equator. Hawaii, about 35; San Francisco, about 33; between 36 and 37 in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and off the coast of Brazil. None of it is enough to affect drag or flotation or the whoopee factor. Water in general is not much changed by the addition of salt. Can you believe, as my source concluded, that surfing in the tropics is more fun, because it's more fun in the tropics? He attributes it to sunny skies, balmy air, warm water, mai tais, and maybe the heavy wetsuit you wear in cold water. I really tried to find some physics, but all I could find was psychology.

* * *

From Thomas Busch-Sorensen of O.B., re: mushy surfing up north vs. the glide in the tropics.

I never argue with guys with two names. "What's the main difference between the water off San Francisco and, say, Waimea Bay? The temperature. What's the physical parameter that determines how easy water glides over a surface? The viscosity, calculated as follows: u=u20 exp (-0.0284 x [T-20]). If the viscosity of water at 20 dec.C (u20) is 1 centipoise, then off the coast of San Francisco (8 deg.C) it is 1.41 centipoise. At Waimea Bay (28 deg.C) it is 0.80 centipoise. Your surfboard glides 1.41/0.8= 76% easier in tropical water."

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance

Dear M.A.:

Tropical waves are "faster," allowing for smaller, thinner boards and more fun. Up north it's like surfing with the emergency brake stuck on. It's the salt. The spray from northern waves often smells fresh, like mist from a garden sprinkler. How much more salt is there (on average) in equatorial ocean water than, say, the Pacific off of San Francisco?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Lance McDougal, Ocean Beach

Worked like a moondoggie on this one. Scripps scientists, people who surf and then write about it for Surfing and Surfer, ordinary people who surf and don't write about it... Almost all confirm your observations about the tropical "fun" factor. But the salt explanation? I couldn't find anyone to support it. There is a difference in salinity in various parts of the world's oceans, but the spread is minuscule and wouldn't have anything to do with speed on a wave.

I don't expect you to buy this at all, Lance. In the 60, 70 years I've been pushing this rock up the Reader hill, I've noticed something about surfers. Each has his/her particular world view and doesn't take kindly to being challenged by a nonsurfer. When we identified the famous Hawaii Five-0 wave as having been filmed at Rockpile, on the north shore of Oahu, we were pelted with messages from outraged surfers who were sure they had the correct answer, and it wasn't Rockpile. They'd studied the wave on their tiny TV screens for years and arrived at their own conclusions, supported with excruciating descriptive detail, and they didn't want their particular apple carts upset. Never mind that we'd talked to the guy who'd actually filmed it.

So when I say it's the tropics themselves, not the salt, I don't expect you to buy it. One informant at Surfing magazine has noticed the same phenomenon you did and asked Scripps scientists about it and was told the same thing I was. Worldwide, dissolved salts in parts per thousand are between 32 and 37 -- lowest at the poles, highest south of the equator. Hawaii, about 35; San Francisco, about 33; between 36 and 37 in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and off the coast of Brazil. None of it is enough to affect drag or flotation or the whoopee factor. Water in general is not much changed by the addition of salt. Can you believe, as my source concluded, that surfing in the tropics is more fun, because it's more fun in the tropics? He attributes it to sunny skies, balmy air, warm water, mai tais, and maybe the heavy wetsuit you wear in cold water. I really tried to find some physics, but all I could find was psychology.

* * *

From Thomas Busch-Sorensen of O.B., re: mushy surfing up north vs. the glide in the tropics.

I never argue with guys with two names. "What's the main difference between the water off San Francisco and, say, Waimea Bay? The temperature. What's the physical parameter that determines how easy water glides over a surface? The viscosity, calculated as follows: u=u20 exp (-0.0284 x [T-20]). If the viscosity of water at 20 dec.C (u20) is 1 centipoise, then off the coast of San Francisco (8 deg.C) it is 1.41 centipoise. At Waimea Bay (28 deg.C) it is 0.80 centipoise. Your surfboard glides 1.41/0.8= 76% easier in tropical water."

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.