Surf for Thursday – Fun WNW swell, clean conditions, and some morning swampthing

Thursday will be a surf day…clean conditions, fun WNW swell…we just need to get past the morning high tide.

We are going to see the new WNW swell (275-300) peak early on Thursday and hold into the afternoon. This WNW energy will mix with some small SSW swell (190-210) that won’t be big enough to help out all that much but might help to crease up the WNW energy at the best combo spots.



Average spots are going to see surf in the waist-chest high range for most of the day (though shape will be really slow as the high tide peaks in the morning)…and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few bigger sets mixing in at times. Standout WNW facing breaks, mostly in Ventura, the South Bay, and San Diego, will have surf in the chest-head high range with a few overhead+ waves mixing in on the bigger sets…even the top spots can expect more slow shape through the morning but they should recover faster and see more consistent surf as the tide drops.

Winds look good for the morning…light/variable to light/moderate offshore winds will be on tap through the early morning. Sort of variable texture will spring up through the midmorning and by the afternoon we can expect some onshore NW winds around 10-15+ knots. Looks like a few of the more protected areas may see some cleanup as winds lay down around sundown…but don’t plan your whole day around them.



This new WNW swell is already showing along our beaches this afternoon, (now that the tide has dropped), and it is looking a touch walled at the beach breaks, which may be a side-effect of the really low tide that is hitting right now. I expect the lined-up shape of this swell to continue on Thursday…so the points/reefs are going to have the best shape. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a point/reef nearby I would plan on checking the spots that have something (rock, jetty, pier, good sandbar, Jimmy Hoffa) that can put a corner on the wave shape.

Overall this looks like a pretty decent short-medium period WNW swell that will have enough W in it to make it into most exposed areas…if the tide wasn’t so freaking high in the morning I would probably say that it would be worth driving a little further to find more size/better shape but it is going to be pretty soft everywhere through the first part of the day, and then it will be the usual race to see if the tide can drop faster than the onshore winds pick up.

Here are the tides…

12/17/2009 Thursday
02:30AM LST 2.4 L
08:37AM LST 5.9 H (damn you swampthing!)
04:11PM LST -0.7 L
10:42PM LST 3.6 H