Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Waves for Wednesday – a hint of the tropical

Wednesday looks surfable...but again the tides and small swell mix will keep it from being much of a “surf day”.

We are going to see a mix of WNW-NW energy (both weak leftovers from the NPAC and some local NW windswell), some tropical S-SW swell (190-210) from former TS Kevin, and some background SW energy from the Southern Hemisphere. On paper it sounds like a lot going on...but it won’t amount to much on the beach, particularly as the higher tides move in and swamp-thing it.



Average spots, ones that only get some of the swell mix (or are tide-sensitive), will be in the knee-waist high range on Wednesday...maybe a few chest high sneakers on the tide push through the dawn patrol. The standout breaks and excellent combo spots will be more consistently around waist high with more chest high sets, and maybe a rare chest high+ wave showing through the morning. Look for the biggest surf through the combo spots in San Diego and Southern Ventura...but expect a few waves at the combo spots in the other regions as well.

Winds look ok...sort of light and variable to variable-onshore in the morning. Really the wind models are sort of mixed bag on the forecast for tomorrow. The COAMPS is calling for offshore winds (which it has been calling for all week) and the NWS stuff is showing either light/variable to light westerly. Personally I think it is going to be pretty similar to the last couple of days...sort of eddyish, but sort of heavier, thanks to the tropical moisture.

I think we can expect mostly clean conditions in the early morning but with light onshore texture filling in by midmorning. W winds around 10-12 knots will move in through midafternoon but may lay down again in the evening.





Your best bet is to try and find a peak or two at the combo spots through the morning...the tide will be lower, and the winds will be the lightest. I would stick to the small wave gear...longboards and fishy shapes. Don’t spend a ton of time looking for waves tomorrow, but if you live close to the beach, or don’t mind the computer cam check I would burn a few minutes checking it out in the morning.

03:03AM LDT 0.0 L
09:13AM LDT 4.3 H
02:40PM LDT 1.7 L
08:35PM LDT 5.6 H

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

was able to get a few fun chest high peaks early this morning. tide killed it though.....................................i"m ready for the next swell already

Unknown said...

I hear you there...the warm water is nice, but I think I would trade it for a few more feet of size.