Monday, November 16, 2009

Tuesday’s Swampiness – Wake me when the swell gets here

Tuesday will not be a surf day.

The combination of a weak swell mix (leftover NW and SW energy) and the high morning tide is going to kill off most of our surfiness. Of course the conditions will be great (after it warms up)…since we don’t have much to ride.



Ok despite my ever so cheerful intro it won’t be completely flat…it will just feel like it as the tide peaks (for most spots). Once we get the tide to a semi-manageable level we can expect a few knee high lines coming through at the average spots…maybe a rare knee-high+ set at times. The standout NW facing breaks and the excellent combo spots will be more in the knee-waist high range with a few chest high sets sneaking into the best exposed spots down towards San Diego.

Winds look good for Monday…mostly light and variable to light/moderate offshore for the morning (showing the strongest offshore flow up toward SB/Ventura/LA). Then variable onshore winds, mostly out of the W, around 8-12 knots for the afternoon.



Your best bet is going to be waiting to surf until the tide drops…fortunately the winds should cooperate, staying light enough that it won’t be all torn up by the time the tide recedes. Stick with the small wave boards, longboards or something with a ton of foam (like an aircraft carrier) will probably be the most fun. Fortunately some actual swell will arrive later this week…make sure to read the long-range forecast in case you haven’t.

Here are the tides…

11/17/2009 Tuesday
02:09AM LST 2.1 L
08:18AM LST 6.2 H
03:46PM LST -0.7 L
10:10PM LST 3.6 H

Links for the regional forecasts…

Santa Barbara - http://socalforecastsb.blogspot.com/
Ventura - http://socalforecastven.blogspot.com/
Los Angeles - http://socalforecastla.blogspot.com/
Orange County - http://socalforecastoc.blogspot.com/
San Diego - http://socalforecastsd.blogspot.com/

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Are these high tides really THAT important? Maybe it's time to blow up the moon....does anyone have access to a Death Star?

Anonymous said...

The winter morning high tides are actually a good thing - if you live someplace where you can surf the equally low tides in the afternoon.

Think about where the two best Calif WCTers live. Morning beach breaks, afternoon drained out point breaks.

If you haven't experienced it, there's nothing like getting all your sh!t done during the day (eg going to class and finishing homework), and then hitting beautiful backlit point surf right before dark.

Even if it's small, you can grab a log and skim over moss covered rocks.