Our W-WNW swell (280-300+) moved into exposed areas on Sunday…I got reports that Santa Barbara was pretty fun and I saw some good looking sets rolling into Ventura. The winds didn’t hold but it is nice to see some swell in those areas.
The W swell will continue to hold as we move into Monday (it should actually be peaking in OC and SD in the morning but the swell angle is starting to shift a little NW slow look for fewer spots to be exposed to the bigger surf). There will be some background SW swell (190-210) slowly fading out as well. Check out the CDIP model from this afternoon.
I still expect surf in the waist-shoulder high range for most W facing beaches on Monday. The better exposed areas will have some head high sets…and the top spots, mostly in San Diego, the South Bay, and Ventura, will have some overhead sets.
The winds look like they are going to be a bitch in the afternoon…but we may have a small window of semi-clean conditions through the morning, particularly at the spots that have a little protection from W-NW breezes. Look for winds to start below 10 knots out of the W in the morning…then increase for all areas…eventually topping out 13-15+ knots out of the WNW by the afternoon. Here is a shot of the COAMPS forecast for the morning.
With the rain that came through on Sunday I am not really stoked on the water quality. I haven’t looked at rainfall totals but it seemed like there was enough to get the storm drains flowing in a few spots. The first rains of the year are always the nastiest…it seems like you get all the crap, trash, shopping carts, dead bodies, ect ect pushing out during the first rain. Usually the health department recommends waiting at least 72 hours after a significant rain.
Anyway…if you have to surf I would try and check the W facing spots but areas that offer a little protection from the wind. I would also try and get on it early before the tide fills in and the winds come onshore. If you are west swell junky then it might be worth a dawn patrol but personally I am going to wait for enough light for a cam check before I commit to driving down to look at it in person.
Here are the tides for Monday…
10:47AM 4.7’ High
07:30PM 0.8’ Low
9 comments:
I was at Imperial Beach (Boca Rio)twice today, once at 6am and once at 5pm and it was macking both times. I'm talking easy head high waves both times. At 6am one guy broke his foot, and another his board. The form was not the most beautiful, but if you were in the right spot, you could make a corner and find yourself in a barrel opening up to a fairly open, though choppy face, with lots of room for style.
Yum sewage from Tiajuana
is there any way to check on bacteria levels? I see the city trucks taking water samples sometimes. Who processes the findings and where are they published?
head high and macking?
yeah, no joke, guys; it was head high and well over on many sets. i'm no expert on that spot (Boca Rio) but I've been there a few times now and it gets huge. sadly, it is true that it gets very polluted most of the time. i only go when the plume tracking website for the tijuana river (that's how you spell tijuana, by the way) says there is little to no pollution.
in all honesty, if IB (and especially Boca Rio & the TJ Sloughs) did not suffer from so much pollution, it would be one of the best breaks in CA. For those who doubt it, just go there to see it. You don't have to get in; seeing is believing. As I said, I'm not an expert on the spot (I, too, prefer clean water), but if you take the time to read up on it and find out what swells/direction works best, you will observe some monster waves, and the crazy mofos out there who charge it.
Alex
check out Healthebay.org
Alex,
Healthebay.org is good but can lag on posting closures and updates.
Here is one for Orange County that is updated a bit more timely.
http://ocbeachinfo.com/
IB is one of those great NW spots that is usually out of the islands shadow on those steep NW swells.
Of course, further South they can really get some good surf too. If only the U.S. had annexed just another 50 miles or so into Baja, imagine the wave goodness we'd have easy access to ;)
IB was big, alot bigger than blacks form my experience surfing the two breaks over this swell. The best form and cleanest conditions that I witnessed was on Friday morning when the swell first started to show at about 10am. There was perfection mixed with brutal close outs on friday morning. I have a few photos up at IBNATION.COM under Pictures of the Week. You can also catch a daily IB surf report on my site. Cheers.
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