Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Waves for Wednesday – A little smaller and a little cleaner

Wednesday will be a marginal surf day...

When I say marginal...I mean that the winds will be better than the last couple of days but the swell will still be a bit finicky, shadowed, and inconsistent.

Swellwise we are going to see a mix of slowly fading SW swell (200-220) and steady NW windswell.



The average spots will be in the ankle-waist high range. The standout SW facing spots, again in the South OC, North SD, North LA, will be doing a bit better with waist-chest high surf and a few inconsistent chest high+ sets. Look for the best shape at the points/reefs that can handle the funky morning tide swing.

Winds look more variable through the morning on Wednesday as well. Look for variable onshore flow through the Northern Counties (Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles)...and then more light and variable conditions as you move down into OC and San Diego. It won’t be super clean but less bump than the last couple of mornings. Look for the cleanest conditions in areas with some protection from the wind. By the afternoon expect more WNW flow 10-15 knots to return.



Overall not a super exciting day tomorrow, particularly in my neck of the woods (North OC) thanks to shadowing from San Clemente Island and Catalina, but there will be some rideable and almost playful sized waves at the well exposed spots. Your best bet is going to be shooting for that short window of building tide in the early morning...winds will be lighter and we won’t be completely swamped out. Plan on sticking to the smaller wave gear just so you can still have some fun with the smaller sets.

Here are the tides...

04:06AM LDT -0.4 L
10:20AM LDT 4.0 H
03:25PM LDT 2.0 L
09:23PM LDT 5.8 H

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to do what you do, it makes having a job bearable by looking forward to the upcoming weekends!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the forecast! I just surfed a finicky Oceanside, just south of the south harbor jetty. There were some little corners to pick off and a bit 'o hollowness with the morning offshore - waist to chest.

Anonymous said...

small, but parts of IB were a shack machine this morning. punchy little shacks!