Waves for the weekend – A little too much wind.

We are going to have some surf this weekend, and we are going to have some wind, and most of the time we are going to have both at the same time…which if you pardon the pun…sort of blows.

There will be plenty of swell in the water. We have a mix of new SSW-SW swell (195-220) that is filling in here on Friday/Saturday and will peak Saturday night into Sunday. There will also be plenty of WNW-NW windswell coming in along with the increasing local winds.

Wave heights will be in the waist-chest high range for most areas with SW and WNW exposure. Standout SW facing spots, mostly through San Diego and Southern Orange County, will have sets hitting the shoulder-high+ range on Saturday and head high+ on Sunday.

Southern Ventura County, Northern LA, and the South Bay will see a decent mix of the SW’er but will be a bit smaller overall, expect in areas where it is combing up with the local windswell.

Santa Barbara and North Orange County (mostly from HB northward), will see some solid shadowing from the nearshore islands, which will limit wave heights in those areas. Look for surf more in the knee-waist high range on average with a few bigger sets sneaking through at times.

Unfortunately winds will be the biggest problem that we have this weekend. Strong NW winds are forecast to develop over the next 24 hours and hold strong through the weekend.

On Saturday look for a semi-clean window during the dawn-patrol…winds should start off light and variable onshore and hold through mid-morning. W winds build in fast, tapping out at 10-20 knots by the afternoon.

Sunday forecasts are showing an eddy spin up…but its position and intensity are a bit suspect. I would expect S-SW winds for most of OC and SD in the morning…and more variable onshore bump for Santa Barbara down through LA. Overall shape won’t be that great even if the winds are light…mostly due to the strong leftover bump from Saturday’s winds. Afternoon winds look just as strong as Saturday’s 10-20 knots.

Your best bet for surf will be to try and find a spot with the perfect blend of protection from the wind and exposure to the swell mix. SW-facing points will probably be the best call, particularly the inside sections which may offer some protection from the winds. Also try and get on it early…it may not matter how protected a spot is once the winds start hitting 20 knots.

Also I wanted to give you guys a big thanks for the feedback on the charts…I am going to see if I can come up with something a bit cooler that will fit in more with my other nonsense that I throw up on this bloggy.