Sea salt coated my windshield early in the morning dawn. The sun wasn’t even up yet – not for another hour or so – but I had already been on the phone, texting and calling with friends. “Where’s the spot? What’s the tide doing? Is it on?” Oh, it was on . That was the beginning, for me at least, to last week’s season-opener swell in Southern California. Simultaneously, there were countless other stories unfolding in real-time. Some very similar to mine, and some very different. That’s the way things go with swells like this, with all the hype, the buildup, the anticipation. It had been forecasted for at least a week prior, slamming Tahiti, and igniting Teahupo’o . So, Southern Californians knew something big was coming. How big? How clean? You just never know until you go. Ryan "Chachi" Craig Ryan "Chachi" Craig Someone who had a very different experience than myself was Santa Cruz surf photographer Ryan “Chachi” Craig.…