Friday, December 12, 2008

Waves for the Weekend - Sloppy with an extra side of funky

It doesn’t look like much of a surf weekend...the surf stays on the small side with just sort of substandard swells, the weather gets sort of nasty as rain and S winds move in, and if that wasn't bad enough we have a super high tide that peaks in the mornings and just buries us.

Surfwise we are going to have a mix of SSW energy and some local WNW windswell on Saturday. The average exposed breaks will have surf in the waist-high+ range while the better combo spots stay right around chest high with some rare chest high+ sets. Shape will be a bit soft since all of these swells have fairly short periods (around 12-14 seconds on the SSW'er and around 6-8 on WNW energy)...add in that the high tide swamps it...and it looks like mostly close to shore mushburgers or shorebreak.

Sunday the WNW energy builds as more windswell starts to arrive...it will be pretty steep with most of the energy coming in around 290-300+ and the winds setting it up will come along with it...so shape isn't going to be that great. The top exposed spots will build into the chest-shoulder high+ range by the afternoon...maybe even a few bigger waves at the really good windswell spots.

Weather is what really works us over. S-SW winds around 10-15 knots and periods of rain start to arrive on Saturday (probably strongest by the afternoon). Sunday will see the same winds in the morning and then more W-erly flow by the afternoon...probably more rain as well. Looks like another cold front with more consistent rain pushes through the area on Monday. (lame).



Anyway I don't think it will be worth spending much time trying to hunt down the surf this weekend...the combo of the tide, weather, and lack of surf is going to be pretty frustrating. There may be a couple of small surf windows out there if you need to get in the water for some reason...so if you "have" to surf I would try and pick a spot with the right mix of protection from the winds, lack of tide sensitivity, but with still enough exposure to pull in a few waves...(yeah like you are going to find a lot spots like this). Really I think your best bet is to keep an eye on the local winds, if they aren't too bad give the cams a quick check and see if you can spot a fun peak or two.

Have a good one...

PS...if I don't make it back on Monday it is because I had too much fun at the Christmas party and ended up borrowing (I believe the technical term is "piracy") someone's Duffy Boat and terrorized Newport Harbor. Man I love holiday parties!



Here are the tides

Saturday
02:18AM LST 2.0 L
08:31AM LST 7.0 H
04:05PM LST -1.7 L
10:35PM LST 3.8 H

Sunday
03:10AM LST 2.1 L
09:19AM LST 6.8 H
04:54PM LST -1.5 L
11:27PM LST 3.8 H

5 comments:

Seth said...

Seriously, where are the waves. I went hunting for waves at lunch and guess what? There were none.

Anonymous said...

I have guests coming in town that want to get wet. Any general spots (N OC, S OC, ect) or times that would work at all? We'd even use big boards. What timing!? Crappy. How about Monday or Tuesday any better outlook?
I hate wind - and when the moon gets too close.

Anonymous said...

Advised the harbor Patrol to look out for AW aka Red Beard!
Coconutz!!

Anonymous said...

how long is the freakin wind gonna last? even though it is going to rain well into next week, will the wind still be around too?

Anonymous said...

There is a time & place for everything. After this storm blows through, it's time to hit the slopes.