A little surprise...

Summary
It is never bad when you discover something to be unexpectedly good. Put simply, Doran blew my socks of with the POTENTIAL it has for good surf. Tide was falling and arguably quite a bit too low, else this late morn surf would have been amazing. That said, I had fun. I had a few little corners, and I see the potential an early surf tomorrow holds...
Waves
Quite closeouty. It is a beachbreak on big groundswell at lowish tide. That said, the first thirty minutes of the session saw some surprisingly heavy 5ft walls. They pretty much all trounced me, but there was POTENTIAL. I some shoulders here and there, but for the most part the waves didn't give me a whole lot to work with.
Crowds
There were about two dozen out when I first braved out. That slowly fell and by the time I left there were only half a dozen. Probably good reason for the "crowd" leaving because conditions (surfing wise, not wind wise) grew progressively worse.
Weather
...S facing beach, NW/NNW winds. 3/4 offshore. Clean as sin. Lefts look a lot better than rights do (also probably how the waves wrap in...) Overcast and pretty darn chilly. I need me a hoodie for this winter...
Forecast
If the swell today was working, tomorrow is better, and Sunday shows promise as well. I'm hopeful. I'll be getting up early to get on it before/at high tide.
Eventful Stuff
Turkey day...was so big. I put my Wetsuit on and drove down to the beach. I stood there for about twenty minutes looking at the 1/2 mi paddle I would have to endure. A few of my neighbors that surf came up and were like, "Probably not a good idea to go out..." I decided I didn't want to kill myself, so I went back home and stared at the surf for the next hour. Of at least half a dozen guys, I saw ONE get out. Watching his little rubber suited body swing wildly up and down on the massive lines visible half a mile out to see, I waited impatiently for him to take a wave. And he did, a 3x overhead plus bomb, the first of the set. Shooting down the face this guy got a ridiculously huge barrel and then got spit out---hard. The next seven waves in the set came and trounced him, pounding him so hard I was cringing just watching from a mile away. No one else made it past the breakers that day.
Wave of the Day
Nothing spectacular, but there were a handful of left (closeout) barrels. For the most part the best workable wave I had was a little right shoulder, sharp bottom turn and two nice slices. Take what you can get =)

Summary:
Doran Beach, Sonoma
5'10" Quad Beauty
10:45-12:00
3-4ft, 5ft+ sets
2/5