Friday, February 29, 2008

Waves for the weekend: More Combo swell

So I just got out of the water for the second time today (not to rub it in or anything)…and it was pretty darn good today. I surfed the local river mouth and there were some good sized overhead+ plus sets rolling through, (most of which landed on my buddy Dave’s head while he was caught in the impact zone). It was a mix of closeouts and dumpy hollow A-frames…and even though winds were a touch strong at times it stayed surfable till about 3pm or so. Anyway moving on to the weekend

Saturday is looking like a surf day but it looks like it will have wind problems too.


In the water we will have a fading but still healthy mix of WNW and SW swell. Most average breaks will have chest-shoulder high surf. Standout combo spots in San Diego and OC will see more consistent shoulder-head high surf with some overhead sets.

Winds on Saturday look funky. NWS is calling for NW winds around 10 knots for the morning. I think it could be lighter for the dawn patrol but I would plan on seeing at least some onshore texture. A lot will depend on what happens tonight…if winds lay down early tonight and stay light then the dawn patrol should start off clean.

Probably you best bet is to do a cam check in the morning…if you see a lot of crumble (or white caps) I would think about shining it until mid-morning when it at least won’t be totally chilly. If it looks clean on the cams then jam down ASAP and try and get a few waves before the winds pick up. Onshore winds out of the NW 10-15+ knots will definitely pick up by the afternoon.


Sunday’s surf will be cleaner and more consistent

On Sunday we actually have another round of WNW and S-SW swell moving in to reinforce the fading swell mix. Wave heights will hold in the chest-head high range for the average spots while the standout combo breaks, (mostly SD and OC again…but with a few South Bay and Ventura spots thrown in there as well), will see shoulder-head high waves with overhead sets mixing in at times.

Shape and conditions should be pretty good. Winds shift more to the N (maybe even NNE) through the morning and will help to clean up many breaks. The swell combo will continue to give us the cross-up shape so the combo beach breaks, reefs, and some of the better points will have decent and even good shaped waves.

Again your best bet, just because the winds are a little unstable, is to make a cam check in the morning…then if it looks good (or at least “not bad” ) then head down to the beach and try to score a few waves during the morning. Onshore winds will pick up again in the afternoon.

Personally I am going to be taking Saturday off, mostly to dry the ears out and because I am a little leery of the winds, but I should be back in the water on Sunday.

Make sure to check back…I will be posting a new Surf Break Map this weekend and I should have a forecast update later Sunday afternoon.

Have a great weekend!

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