Friday, July 9, 2010

Waves for the Weekend – Mostly small and weak with a bit of onshore bump

Neither Saturday or Sunday are looking that good this weekend…sure there will be some rideable waves but mostly we will be looking at a small swell mix hampered by consistent onshore winds.

On Saturday we can expect a mix of weak leftover S swell (175-180) and some minor local windswell.



Most spots will be in the knee high range while a few of the better S facing spots will have some knee-waist high sets. The standout S facing breaks and top combo spots will be in the knee-waist high range with a few rare waist-chest high sets on the lower tides.

Winds look sloppy on Saturday…though there might be a small window of manageable conditions through the morning. The models are calling for variable onshore flow around 3-5 knots for most areas. The COAMPS is showing a slightly stronger onshore flow for the coast areas than NOAA is…but I think that it might be a “worst case scenario” sort of thing. I wouldn’t count on lighter winds in the morning (definitely don’t count on glassy conditions or anything like that)…but there may be some pockets at breaks with some protection. 10-15+ knot W-WNW winds return by later in the afternoon.



Sunday we will get a new mix of S and SW swells (180-215) that filter in and mix with our local windswell and leftover energy from earlier in the week. Wave heights aren’t going to change that much, but I do expect a little better consistency at the well exposed spots.



Sizewise we can expect surf in the knee high range for most exposed areas along with a few waist high waves (maybe even a waist high+ set on the lower tides). The standout S-SW facing spots and the excellent S/NW combo breaks will have waist high surf with some chest high sets…possibly some chest high+ faces if your break does a really good job of focusing the swell.

Winds are supposed to be similar to Saturday…so variable onshore to slightly W in the morning with wind speeds in the 3-5 knot range. Expect the cleanest conditions at breaks with some wind protection. The winds increase to the 8-10 knot range by midmorning and eventually hit 10-15+ knots by the afternoon. The weather is supposed to improve a bit on Sunday…getting some more sun on the beach earlier in the day along with some warmer air temps as well.



As you can see…nothing special for the weekend…just weak waves and some onshore wind. If you have to surf, I would try and stick with the top exposed spots that have some wind protection (but those are a little hard to find)…I would also bring your small wave gear, just so you can maximize the fun while waiting for the inconsistent set waves.

Here are the tides…

07/10/2010 Saturday
03:23AM LDT -1.1 L
09:48AM LDT 3.6 H
02:22PM LDT 2.1 L
08:33PM LDT 6.6 H

07/11/2010 Sunday
04:02AM LDT -1.3 L
10:24AM LDT 3.9 H
03:11PM LDT 1.9 L
09:18PM LDT 6.7 H

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

actually glassy all morning in south san diego. but hardly a ripple out there, and still no freakin sun. beautiful saturday to sleep and/or do what she says needs done.

Surfsister said...

Got some glassy stuff down here in L.A. too. Surfed a beach break (not Porto) on a longboard. The conditions were close to perfection if you had some wood under your feet. The wind didn't start to come up until about 9:30.

Anonymous said...

Good chest-shoulder high stuff in newps pretty rip able albeit freezing.

Anonymous said...

wth sun came out and it was clean in the afternoon?
wheres my camera?