Waves for Wednesday - Small and Clean with a few nuggets still hiding out there

Waves for Wednesday - Small and Clean with a few nuggets still hiding out there

Wednesday will be a surf day…not a great surf day, not a big surf day…just sort of slow and fun, with sunny skies, and clean morning conditions.



Our swell will be a mix of overlapping S through SW swells (180-220) from a few small storms in the South Pacific. I am even seeing some long-period SW energy (220) on a few of the buoys from a storm way over by New Zealand that probably got chewed up passing through the SPAC island shadow. In the background there will also be a touch of local NW windswell that will keep the NW spots from going flat and a few bigger waves showing at the combo spots.

Get the sizes and weather over at the solspot.com site...you can also see how Hurricane Earl is going to try and mow down the Outer Banks.

here is the link straight into the forecast if you are feeling really lazy...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/small-and-clean-with-a-few-nuggets-still-hiding-out-there

but make sure to check out a bit more of the new site. We are working on revisions right now, and all of your feedback is super important...help us make you the most bitchen forecast site for the interweb!

Southern California Long-range Surf Forecast – 8/30/2010

The latest long-range surf forecast is up over at solspot.com...



Things look playful and clean for the next couple of days with weaker waves due by the end of the week.

Here is a link to the new forecast...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/long-range-forecast/adam-wright/weak-mix-of-small-southern-hemi-energy-and-local-windswell

My Name is (Hurricane) Earl gets ready to rip the East Coast a new one…

Now I don’t cover a ton of East Coast stuff…but occasionally there are some storms that are just too good to pass up. Hurricane Earl is one of them.



Right now Major Hurricane Earl (Category 4) is pushing just to the NE of Puerto Rico and is basically scaring the poop out of most of the Northern Caribbean.



His forecasted track over the next few days isn’t very reassuring either…



Get the rest of the update on www.solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/my-name-is-hurricane-earl-gets-ready-to-rip-the-east-coast-a-new-one%E2%80%A6

Surf for Monday – Early Morning Session

Monday looks surfable and fun for the morning…onshore winds push onshore around 9-10am…so you are going to want to surf early.



In the water we will have a mix of overlapping S-SW swells leftover from the weekend…and some new S swell (175-185). NW windswell holds in the background…but still won’t be generating a ton of surf.

Make sure to check Solspot.com for the full forecast...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/surf-for-monday-%E2%80%93-early-morning-session

Sunday’s Surf – A few fun ones in the morning

Sunday will be surfable in the morning…in fact the good S facing spots and the good combo breaks could be pretty fun as they mix with a rising, but not too fat tide, and light winds.



Swellwise we can expect a mix of dropping S-SSW swell (180-190), background SW energy (210-220), some steady NW windswell, a touch of new, but still small S swell (175-185 showing mostly long-period energy on the buoys). While this sounds like a lot of swell the surf won’t be all that big…but it does spread things out enough that most areas will have some sort of swell showing and the top combo breaks will be pretty fun.

Get the full forecast on Solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/sunday%E2%80%99s-surf-%E2%80%93-a-few-fun-ones-in-the-morning

Saturday’s Surf – Stupid Eddy

Saturday won’t be much of a surf day. So I will give you the full forecast today...but make sure to check out the cool wind forecasts we have up at www.solspot.com



The biggest issue is the return of the eddy…seriously it is almost September…this is getting ridiculous. Well ok now that I think about it really the eddy is the only issue we have on Saturday. There will still be some mixing S-SW swells (180-220) in the water…they will be fading…but with the right combo of tide and exposure they could be fun. All you need is protection from the stupid wind (and since I live a little ways down the street from a really exposed S facing beach I have almost zero protection from the S winds…so the eddy always twists the knife just a little harder. Stupid eddy…I bet dolphins built it).



Wave heights will be dipping down…but a few of the spots that had been shut down by lack-o-windswell will start to see a few new waves as more energy moves in from that direction. Average S facing spots will be in the waist-chest high range on the sets while the standout breaks see some shoulder high sets. There may be a bigger wave or two at the top spots, but expect size and consistency to back down through the day. NW facing spots start to see a bump up as local NW windswell increases pushing most spots into the knee-waist high range with a few waist high+ sets sneaking into the best areas.

The models…both the COAMPS and the NOAA/NWS are calling for the eddy in the morning. The COAMPS is a bit stronger with the center of the eddy up around Palos Verdes. The NWS guys have it positioned a bit more toward Catalina...and they have it starting off a little lighter. In general I am expecting a mix variable onshore winds for Ventura up through Santa Barbara…sort of a W-SW for SB, more S-SE toward Ventura. Then SE for LA county. OC and SD get the shaft with mostly S winds. All of this will be in the 3-5 knot range for the morning and then the winds will shift more W and push up into the 10-15 knot range at the most exposed areas.

Check out the live wind forecasts for a few sample spots (hint we have these for all of our surf spots)

Sands (Santa Barbara)
C-street (Ventura)
Malibu
El Porto
Huntington Beach
Trestles
Cardiff
Mission Beach

Your best bet is going to be the breaks that can block the wind and still pick up the S swell…there are a handful of spots throughout SoCal that can almost pull it off…but not that many. There will be more windswelly spots that have protection, but even though the surf is cleaner the surf will be smaller and weaker. It will be one of those compromise days…do you want clean smaller surf or junky bigger surf…the same pain in the butt choice that us Socal guys end up making too many times throughout the year. Oh and I would probably stick with the smaller wave boards, even at the top S facing spots…sets are getting pretty inconsistent and it will be nice to be able to pick off even the small ones.







Your best bet is going to be the breaks that can block the wind and still pick up the S swell…there are a handful of spots throughout SoCal that can almost pull it off…but not that many. There will be more windswelly spots that have protection, but even though the surf is cleaner the surf will be smaller and weaker. It will be one of those compromise days…do you want clean smaller surf or junky bigger surf…the same pain in the butt choice that us Socal guys end up making too many times throughout the year. Oh and I would probably stick with the smaller wave boards, even at the top S facing spots…sets are getting pretty inconsistent and it will be nice to be able to pick off even the small ones.

Southern California Long Range Surf Forecast 08/26/10

The surf will back down as we head into the weekend but another couple of pulses from the S and SW will keep the surf from dropping too fast. A little more windswell, and a touch of tropical swell from Hurricane Frank (the Tank), will help round things out. Overall expect smaller, but still potentially playful surf (if you bring the right gear, and attitude).

Short Range (next 4 days)

Friday – (More surf!…wow! who would have thought?)
The S swell (180-190) fades on Friday but still conjures up some decent sized surf at the standout breaks. The average spots back more into the waist-chest high range with some shoulder high sets still showing at times. The standout S facing beaches and the top combo spots, still mostly in the OC, see some shoulder-head high surf with some occasionally bigger sets showing at the best breaks on the lower tides. Winds/Weather: Winds are still looking a bit funky for Friday…clean(er) in the morning but unstable with onshore flow coming up pretty early. I wouldn’t wait too long to surf on Friday. It looks like onshore flow starting to push up the sea breeze around 10am…and then stronger onshore flow tapping out around 10-15 knots by late in the afternoon

Check out how the swell, wind, and tides, affects the different Southern California regions...(click on each one to get a sub-regional forecast...and if you click one of the "surf break" links, you can even get spot-specific winds and weather for each break)...Santa Barbara, Ventura, North LA, the South Bay, North Orange County, South Orange County, North San Diego, South San Diego.




Still just teasing....get the full forecast (and more frank the tank) at www.solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/waves-and-a-little-wind-hold-into-the-weekend-smaller-surf-on-tap-next-week

Tropical Alert – Frank upgraded to Hurricane Strength

Frank made the Jump to Hurricane Strength today…and even moved into the Baja Sur swell window (well for Cabo and the East Cape at least) as he intensified today.



The current forecasts have him intensifying a bit more as he tracks more WNW over the next couple of days…with the potential for him to reach Socal’s SE swell window on Friday.

Get more details on the big site...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/tropical-alert-%E2%80%93-frank-upgraded-to-hurricane-strength

Thursday’s Surf – S swell continues with the wind trying to screw things up

Thursday will be another surf day.

The S swell that peaked on Wednesday will be slowly losing some steam on Thursday but a new SW swell (200-220) and background WNW-NW windswell will help to keep the surf size from dropping too fast. Winds will get on things fast again…so try to surf as early as you can…onshore W-WNW breeze looks like it will be dropping the elbow around midmorning/lunchtime.



make sure to get the rest of the forecast on http://www.solspot.com/

here is the link straight into the forecast for all you guys in a hurry...stick around and read something will you!

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/thursday%E2%80%99s-surf-%E2%80%93-s-swell-continues-with-the-wind-trying-to-screw-things-up

Waves for Wednesday - Now with more S-swell

Wednesday will be a surf morning…but winds aren’t looking quite as friendly as they have been the last couple of days. It still looks clean in the morning…but a general onshore chunkiness starts to pick up midmorning and may hamper the shape at the more exposed spots.

The new S swell is filling in more this evening…you can see it on our buoy pages…check out the dominate swell periods in the very far right column.



For those of you buoy-nerds out there….you can see the live version of this page here…

http://surf.solspot.com/activity/surf/buoy/region.php?id=1

This new S swell will continue to build overnight and will mix with the combo of leftover S-SW swell and windswell as we head into Wednesday.

Make sure to read the full forecast here...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/waves-for-wednesday-now-with-more-s-swell

Southern California Long Range Surf Forecast 08/23/10

There will be a solid run of S and SW swell showing this week with good sized surf holding through Tuesday and into early Wednesday. The swell does eventually back down but expect plenty of rideable waves and mostly good conditions to hold through week and on into the weekend.

Short Range (next 4 days)

Tuesday – (Another S-swell comes in off the top ropes)
New S swell (180-190) peaks on Tuesday as it mixes with a bunch of leftover energy from the weekend and some building local windswell. Most S facing spots will be in the chest-shoulder high range with some head high sets mixing in on the lower tides. The standout S facing spots, mostly in Orange County (and a few other top summer breaks), will be in the shoulder-head high+ range with some sets going overhead to even a couple of feet overhead on those lower tides. It looks like there is enough windswell to keep some semi-corners at the beach breaks…but definitely count on the points and reefs to have the best shape. Winds/Weather: Winds look clean for the morning…mostly light/variable to light/offshore early…then building onshore flow by the afternoon.

Check out how the swell, wind, and tides, affects the different Southern California regions...(click on each one to get a sub-regional forecast...and if you click one of the "surf break" links, you can even get spot-specific winds and weather for each break)...Santa Barbara, Ventura, North LA, the South Bay, North Orange County, South Orange County, North San Diego, South San Diego.



This is still just the teaser...make sure to head on over to www.solspot.com to get the full long-range forecast.

Monday’s Waves – South Swell is a good way to start the week.

Monday will be a surf day.

More S-SSW swell (180-200) moves in and mixes with the already healthy shot of S-SW swell that we had hit over the weekend. The new S-SSW’er will still be showing mostly long-period energy in the morning, which if it had been the only swell in the water would have made for some long waits and funky exposure as the swell bent/refracted around things. As it is…the other swells are more in the medium-period range, which will really flesh out the surf. We can expect the S facing spots to see a steady stream of S-swell lines as we move throughout the day and things should even get a touch bigger at the end of the day as the new S-SSW swell fills in more.

Get the full forecast here...trust me it will feel so natural in a couple more weeks.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/monday%E2%80%99s-waves-%E2%80%93-south-swell-is-a-good-way-to-start-the-week

Surf for Sunday – Now with more S-SW swell

Sunday looks like a surf morning…but unstable winds, ones that turn onshore pretty early, keep things from being a solid surf day.

We will have more S-SW swell energy (180-220) from a couple of different swells, some that are just peaking, some that are fading out from last week, and some long-period energy from a new pulse moving out of the Southern Hemi. The winds, while they suck for conditions (and water temps) they are starting to build up a little windswell for the exposed combo spots. I don’t think they will have enough juice to break up the bigger S swell, but there may be a few more creases out there at the well exposed breaks.

...I know the teasers suck...I promise they will stop...someday.

Here is the link straight into the proper forecast.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/surf-for-sunday-%E2%80%93-now-with-more-s-sw-swell

It has unicorns in it...you know you want to see a unicorn.

Surf for Saturday - I heart waves

Saturday is looking like a surf day.

More S-SSW swell (190-210) fills in on top of an already decent looking pulse. (At least it looked pretty decent at the stretch of beach my 5 year old was bodyboarding at…while I was wistfully thinking about my 6’6” Stamps and wetsuit sitting in the garage.) The surf at S facing spots and the good combo spots will continue to build in size as even more S swell jumps into the dog-pile and even the windswell (steep NW windswell 290-300) builds up a little as winds in the outer waters increase.

I know you guys hate the teasers but read the full forecast over at www.solspot.com

Southern California Long-range Surf Forecast – 8/19/2010

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - New swell cometh! (And maybe, just maybe, if we are really good he will bring a combo present along for the ride).

Short Range (next 4 days) sorry gang...you have to read the full forecast on www.solspot.com but I will give you Friday for a teaser.

Friday – (a little more size building in)
Wave heights will be on the way up on Friday as a new mix of S-SW swells start to strengthen…none of them are huge…but they are coming in from decent directions (175-215) and the blend of energy should add some consistency that we haven’t had over the last few days. Look for average S facing spots to be in the waist-chest high range. Standout S-SW breaks and good combo spots see some chest-shoulder high surf (and I wouldn’t even be surprised to see a bigger wave now and then on the lower tides). Winds/Weather: Overcast and slightly eddyish in the morning…look for light and variable winds for most areas with a touch of onshore S-SW winds at the really exposed spots. Overall it should be clean, but watch for areas of onshore texture at spots sensitive to the southerly winds.


you have to read the full forecast on www.solspot.com

Surf for Thursday – A little bigger

Thursday will be rideable…maybe even sort of fun/surfable if you can hit a SW facing spots early enough in the morning, before the tide tries to kill it.

In the water we are going to have a mix of the seeming never-ending S-SW blend (180-220 that is always there but never big enough to do much from keeping it flat). However there will be a stronger SW swell (200-220) moving in throughout the day, likely peaking in the afternoon, while it mixes with the S-SW leftovers and weak local windswell.



Remember gang...these are just teasers (think of it as the strip-clubs of surf forecast sites!). Make sure to check www.solspot.com for the complete forecasts.

Waves for Wednesday - Get on it early

Wednesday is looking surfable but a combo of a windswell and building leftover S swell might be a good call in the low tide sand.

Swellwise there will be a couple of new S and SW swells trying to filter into Socal. The surf will be about the same sizewise but the swell will be a little more consistent and a have a little more pizazz (you have to say it with Jazz Hands) than what we had on Tuesday



Get wave heights and weather from the new www.solspot.com \website...

Monday’s Surf – more waiting around but with a few sneaky fun ones lurking around

Personally I don’t think Monday will be much of a surf day…I like a little more juice and consistency to my swell mix...but that is more personal preference than anything. If you don’t mind riding the small-wave boards of mind talking a little story in the line-up between sets then Monday won’t be a total right off.

There will plenty of different swells in the water but non that really standout. There will the small but seemingly ever-present S-SW swell mix from the Southern hemi, there will be a touch of local windswell and the forecast models are calling for a little tropical style energy…but I think they have been hitting the booze a little hard this weekend.



Make sure to head over to www.socalsurf.com for the full forecast, all the forecast details, as well as the automated swell data from WavewatchIII.

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - Small Southern Hemi mix and tiny windswell combo up as we head into the weekend.

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - Small Southern Hemi mix and tiny windswell combo up as we head into the weekend. New S-SW swells start to increase size and consistency next week and we can expect some decent sized waves finally arriving by the following weekend…and likely holding almost all the way through the end of August. Oh and it is Friday the 13th today...so take things a little easy and see if you can dodge the bad-luck-dolphin.



Short Range (next 4 days)

Friday (the 13th…watch out for those dolphins)
A mix of overlapping S-SW swells (180-220) and some minor windswell will be on tap throughout Friday. The swell mix actually gets a little bit of a reinforcement, but it is on the tailing.....read the full forecast

http://surf.solspot.com/

Thursday's Surf - Still a few little ones but mostly summer smallness continues

Thursday will be semi-surfable…if you have a good S facing spot, get it early enough to avoid the high tide, and bring a big board.



Our surf will be a mix of small, overlapping, S-SW swells (180-220) from a couple of barely stormy storms that tip-toed through the South Pacific. There will also be some windswell in the water, but it might also just be from a boat passing by…since it will have about the same effect.

Of course this is just a teaser…make sure to get the full forecast over on the new site www.solspot.com (it is pretty easy to find on the homepage).


Oh and check out Chuck Patterson getting circled by Great Whites down by San Onofre…I think the line for getting into the Old Man’s Parking lot will be a lot shorter this weekend.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/surf-articles/cso/great-white-shark-off-san-onofre

How the Hell Does This Work - The 5-day Summary

Since Solspot.com has a lot more crapola going on compared to my old simple Socalsurf blog I thought I would walk you through some of the new tools…just to show you how they might help you score a few more waves.

One of the first things that we put together was the 5-day forecast summary…



What is funny is that the 5-day was actually made because I don’t want to write a million forecast s. It is basically a way to break down the full Southern California forecast into the different regions.

Here is a link where you can play along too…

http://surf.solspot.com/activity/surf/sub-region/index.php?id=3



The first thing to notice is that each of the 5-day summaries are tied to the different Southern California Surf Zones...the one we are looking at on this page is for South Orange County. Unfortunately right now…because it is summer, and there is barely anything going on, the forecast summaries look like a lot of copy and pasting (which they are)…but rest assured, as conditions change and we see some real swell, each of these will be able to show the differences in how the swell will affect each spot



Each of these 5-days are interactive…as you guys know there is a lot of crap (like the planets aligning, dogs and cats living together…that sort of thing) that has to all come together just right for us to get good surf…and we have tried to put it all in the same place. Unfortunately if you try to show it all at the same time your computer just explodes…sort of like that dudes head in Scanners.

So we hid some of the more detail heavy stuff in tabs that are associated with the day. So like you can see in the above image…if you clicked on Wednesday this circle thing forms and starts spearing the content in the other parts of the 5-day (Wednesday is an angry day for some reason)….no, there is no circle (my developers wouldn’t let me have that), instead it just gives you a cleaner summary of the swell mix, some more detailed weather, and the tides for the day, which if you pay attention…you can see that the “low” tide boxes will turn red if it is a negative tide. (and green in case of unicorns…don’t expect to see that one often).



If you are just looking at a single day you can actually tell a lot…without getting into the tab portion. First off, you will notice that the day itself is color coded. The color is actually tied to the Shape/Surfiness (which a real human forecaster picks)…and the spectrum is about 4-5 colors…red being a bad surf day and green being the best. I imagine that once we get this going at some spot like Jefferies Bay for example, it will be bright green all the time (we will probably just give it a whole different color)…since we are in Socal summer between swells…plan on seeing a lot of mustards and lime days.

Moving down the content…you hit “SIZE” which as a forecaster I try to use this tool to describe the average spots…the whole knee-thigh high is really for the average breaks…the “occasional” set size is usually for the top breaks in the areas.

From there we get to SHAPE/SURFINESS…I have a lot of different terms that can drop into this little box…but it is still good to remember that I am trying to give a summary of a fairly big region…and so some spots may be better than the average and some will be worse…this will be a perfect example of when your “surf and ocean experience/knowledge” helps you use the forecast tools to read between the lines, so to speak.



As we move to the last two sections…the weather and the wind…these are automated sections that are pulling wind and weather from a fixed point in this particular Surf Zone…you can actually get a much more accurate wind and weather forecast by clicking through to an individual spot. I will go into those later…but there is some awesome stuff buried in those pages that if you like surfing, will make bookmarking a few of your favorite spots (or playing with the interactive maps) a good thing to do.



The Weather is pretty explanatory…it gives you high and low temps with a little weather icon that defines what the NWS/NOAA forecasts are calling for the region.

The WINDS: thing is pretty cool…and a cause for an internal discussion between a couple of us here at Solspot. Right now we have the winds set up in a way that if you mouse over the arrow it will give you the wind and direction for the time period of the day. You can see, on the example, that I moused over Wednesday morning and got the 7am wind forecast…which is “1-mph from the WSW” which isn’t much.

Now here (as a user) I think this is the perfect place to help us dial in the product. Right now we have arrows for every direction (well the 16 major ones) and they come in 3 colors. Red is a bad direction, Yellow equals marginal, and Green is a good direction. I went through and helped to match up the winds for each of the Zones so that if you were looking at the South Bay (for example) you wouldn’t get a red or yellow arrow on S winds, like you would for instance in Orange County (stupid eddy…hate you).

Now my programmer thinks that is all we need…he will say things like, ”Hey the wind arrow is yellow…they will mouse over it and get the data and if it marginally good (vs marginally bad) you guys could make the call.”

I am arguing for more color arrows…some that help to visually describe the whole (sort of bad, sort of good, but not great) type of ambiguity that we as surfers always seem to run across. I want like 5 colors that can give a good, quick, assessment of the wind conditions and can include the sort of good, sort of bad, lines of thought. The arrows would change based on both the direction and speed…and so in some cases you might have an arrow pointing onshore but the color would be green or close to it because wind speeds are below 2 knots.



This image is a perfect example of my side of the discussion. In just looking at the chart for tomorrow…I see red (bad) arrows all the way across the day. But if I mouse over the morning ones I see that the winds are basically light and variable with just a touch of onshore texture, which for me isn’t enough to wave me off checking the surf in the morning. Granted you guys have my forecasts, all of the NWS/NOAA, weather bug, resources that are available beyond just this little 5-day tool so you should be able to still find some waves no matter what a bunch of negative arrows are telling you (just remember to mouse over them until I win the Greco Roman Wrestling match…uh I mean discussion…which is how we solve things at www.solspot.com)


Or you guys could also comment on the article and let us know what you think the better solution would be.

Anyways…that is the first edition of How the Hell does this work…there will be many more coming down the pipes.

Waves for Wednesday – Someone needs to push the reset button…the disk seems to be stuck

Wednesday looks semi-surfable…but there isn’t a lot of swell in the water…so expect to ride a big board and sit around a lot waiting for weak waves.

Our swell mix is a blend of S-SW swells (180-220) and weak local windswell. Most of it barely rideable if it was by itself…but it has just enough energy that when the swell mixes we get a semi-rideable little line.



Make sure to read the rest of the forecast at www.solspot.com (you are going to have to navigate to it yourself this time…I bet you can find it pretty easy).

Southern California Long Range Surf Forecast 08/09/10

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - The hodgepodge of overlapping S-SW swells and weak local windswell will continue to push through this week, sending in mostly small surf that is even more tide (and wind) sensitive than usual. Fortunately there are a few windows for waves and morning winds seem pretty manageable for the next few days. Looks like a good week to break out the small-wave boards and vintage death-logs.



To get the whole forecast head on over to www.solspot.com

or go straight to the forecast here

Adam's Long Range Surf Forecast

Surf for Monday – A few playful ones on the fading S-SW mix

Monday will be surfable, but there will be a touch of eddy, the S-SW swell mix will be slowly fading, and the tides will be a bit high…all of which may keep it from being too much fun.

In the water we will have a mix of fading S-SW swell (190-210), some small local windswell (mostly in the afternoon), and some weak Southern Hemi leftovers.



Sorry to do this to you guys...but until we get the full switchover to the site you will have to click through to the new http://www.solspot.com/ for the full forecast…

Special Invitation to see the new website…the evolution of Socalsurf into Solspot.com

Hey Gang…I wanted to pass on a special invitation to check out my NEW surf forecast website, which is basically the evolution of Socalsurf.

The new website is Solspot.com…(the name itself carries a lot of different meanings to but I would rather treat its meaning like most good song lyrics…and let the name take on a personal meaning to each of you).



Right now this is the best link to reach Solspot… http://www.solspot.com

Please head over and explore the site…we have tried to take the best parts (the simplicity of the Socalsurf Forecast) and wrap it with live dynamic tools that will help you guys be on top of things like last minute wind changes, water quality issues, swells filling in early (or late) that sometimes slip past the forecast “snapshop” that I provide in my usual information.

I know a few of you are just looking for simple…”please just tell me to surf tomorrow”…and that is still there. My forecasts aren’t going to change very much…there is just going to be so many new toys to play with.

This new website has been a labor of love, frustration, and insane effort, put in by my partner’s RJ and Jens (both of whom deserve a massive shout out for creating this thing). We know that we are all far from done but getting the site to this point feels awesome for us…so we hope that you are as stoked on it as we are.

OK since the new site is a little big I wanted to give you guys a couple of quick links to help relieve some anxiety in finding the original forecasts, (my ice cold anti-anxitey bottle is sitting next to me dripping lovely cold sweat).

This is probably the best place to find the normal short-range forecast…



http://surf.solspot.com/content/short-range-forecast/adam-wright/waves-for-the-weekend-%e2%80%93-reinforcement-of-sw-swell-but-not-a-ton-of-waves

and the one for the long-range

http://surf.solspot.com/content/long-range-forecast/adam-wright/17004

For those of you that are into the Wavewatch III data…you can check out this link

http://surf.solspot.com/activity/surf/buoy/forecast.php?buoyid=46223


And finally…if you just want to find out WTF is happening at your local spot…

http://surf.solspot.com/activity/surf/beach/index.php?id=6 (notice I picked a spot that will be really, really, fun to surf tomorrow.) But you can dive in and see the winds for the next 7 days (hour by hour) among other things,


Anyway…I will be pushing this to the public over the next week…but since you guys are on the email list I thought I would give you first crack at things in thanks for all the support. (and the men/ladies that have been waiting for swag from me….it is finally being produced, (with the new Solspot labels) so your chances of actually getting something inside of a year is looking pretty good.

One last thing…We know that we are only a small group of humans so please feel free to pass on feedback and any bugs/changes that you come across.

Thanks again gang…I am really hoping that you would be stoked on the first version of Solspot, be rest assured, there is some even cooler poop heading down the pipe as we move forward.

Cheers! (If you are at the US Open tomorrow you might see me passing out some stickers, come up and say hey)

Cheers!

Adam

Waves for the Weekend – Reinforcement of SW swell but not a ton of waves

It will be surfable this weekend…but nothing special overall, unless you get lucky with the right break, tide, and wind (like winning a surf lotto!)

For the weekend we are going to see a mix of SW swell, some leftover S-SW swell, and some weak local NW windswell. The SW swell (200-220) actually filled in a touch later on Friday and will hold overnight into Saturday before slowly dropping on Sunday (and turning more southerly as we move through the weekend).





Sizewise it is going to be pretty much the same all weekend…most SSW-SW spots will be around the knee-waist with a few rare chest high sets sneaking into the spots that like the tide with a little more junk in the trunk. Top SW spots, mostly in South OC and parts of North SD, will be more in the waist-chest high range with some shoulder high sets mixing it in. I suppose there might be a few bigger sets on the lower tides, particularly at the focal spots, but don’t expect to see a lot of them.

Winds look ok...mostly light and variable in the morning with a few areas of light onshore texture at really wind sensitive spots. There won’t be much bump even at the most exposed spots…but there might be a bit of crumble…so don’t expect total cleanliness. Most areas will have some W winds around 10-15 knots picking up through the afternoon…but expect a little lighter onshore bump at the spots with some protection.

Saturday Wind


Sunday Wind


I am not super excited about the weekend surf...the swell mix is small and sort of inconsistent, but it will have some waves showing at the well exposed spots...and a few of the spots can be pretty damn playful if things come together just right. Unfortunately this is the US OPEN weekend which means that the beach is going to be covered in all sorts of nonsense. Personally I would just try and give it a look in the mornings, get a few little waves if it looks ok, and get out of dodge before the chaos erupts...but that is just me. If the nonsense is your thing...then this is your weekend.

Here are the tides…

08/07/2010 Saturday
02:22AM LDT -0.6 L
08:48AM LDT 3.7 H
01:27PM LDT 2.2 L
07:35PM LDT 6.3 H

08/08/2010 Sunday
02:59AM LDT -1.0 L
09:17AM LDT 4.1 H
02:18PM LDT 1.8 L
08:22PM LDT 6.6 H

National Lifesaving Championships Live from Huntington State Beach

I know it is hard to tell but there is a whole other contest on the beach down in Huntington Beach.



HSBLA - Huntington State Beach Lifeguard Association is hosting this year’s United States Lifesaving Association's (USLA) National Lifesaving Championships at Huntington State Beach. There are a bunch of events, lots of running and swimming. (Think baywatch people!)…anyway they have some sweet webcams broadcasting the event. (Apparently that can measure the surf on their own…damn Skynet is closer than we thought.

Anyway if you want to check out the red short action you can see the events down around Beach Blvd in HB state Beach, or check it out on the webcams.



See the Lifeguard Nationals page for more information. Don't forget to check out the first ever, live lifeguard nationals webcam. (pssssst it has a good veiw of State Beach if you want to check the surf..._0

http://statelifeguards.com/lifeguardnationalswebcam.html

Southern California Long-range Surf Forecast – 8/05/2010

Adam’s Long-Range Forecast - We will have a combo of mostly light winds, morning overcast skies (sunny afternoons), and some inconsistent but rideable SW swell hitting over the weekend. Look for the SW energy to creep up more on Friday, hold Saturday, and then turn more southerly and fade (while we get a little more windswell) on Sunday. Small, mostly leftover surf will be on tap for the first few days of next week.

Short Range (next 4 days)

Friday – (A little more SW swell)
More SW swell (200-220) strengthens in on Friday and mixes with some weak local windswell and background Southern Hemi leftovers. Most S-SW facing spots will be in the knee high range withs inconsistent sets. The standout SW facing breaks…mostly through South OC…see some waist-chest high waves and inconsistent shoulder high sets…maybe even a touch bigger on the lower tides. Winds/Weather: Overcast and slightly eddyish in the morning…look for light and variable winds for most areas with a touch of onshore S-SW winds at the really exposed spots. Overall it should be clean, but watch for areas of onshore texture at spots sensitive to the southerly winds.



Saturday – (SW energy continues to slip through )
The SW energy (200-215) turns a little more southerly and holds on Saturday while the weak S/WNW-NW background mix continues to flitter around in the background. Most spots will be in the knee high range with some waist high+ sets at the better S facing spots during the lower tides. The standout SW facing spots, again around South OC/North SD, will have some chest-shoulder high waves on the right tides. Winds/Weather: Overcast skies and slight eddy flow will be on tap for Saturday. Look for mostly light and variable winds, with a touch of southerly flow in the unlucky spots. W winds hit around 10-12 knots for the afternoon.



Sunday - (S-SW swell fades but gets a little more windswell)
The size drops a bit more on Sunday but the slightly more southerly S-SW swell (195-210) and slightly more energetic WNW-NW windswell will make it feel more surfable in more areas which is a nice thing considering there isn’t much swell in the water. Mostly the average spots hold in the knee high range while the standout S-SW facing spots see some waist-chest high sets on the lower tides. Winds/Weather: Light and variable winds will be on tap in the morning with some small pockets of texture, mostly in South SD. Look for winds below 5-knots for all areas. Overcast skies burn off around midday and winds go W onshore around 10-14 knots.



Monday (mostly leftovers)
The S-SW swell mix backs down on Monday and we don’t see much to replace it. Most spots will back down into the ankle-knee high range with some rare thigh high sets at the more S facing beaches. Standout spots, mostly in OC and at the combo spots in SD, see some waist-chest high sets. Whooohoooo! Winds/Weather: About the same as Sunday, but with more trash on the beach. Light and variable winds will be on tap in the morning with some small pockets of texture, mostly in South SD. Look for winds below 5-knots for all areas. Overcast skies burn off around midday and winds go W onshore around 10-14 knots.



Long-Range

North Pacific
Super quiet…even the windswell is boring….just look at the this long-range map…the computer is practically asleep.



South Pacific
Like mentioned in the last forecast the SPAC got pretty pancaked for about 4-5 days…which, unfortunately, leaves us sort of in a gap between any real sort of significant swell. There will be one little SW pulse that hits over the weekend, hitting best in South OC, but for most areas it will be a bit shadowed by the nearshore islands.



The rest of the week doesn’t look much better…just sort of decent winds and minor pulses from the S-SW thanks to weak areas of fetch than still manage to develop despite the high-pressure pancake (man I am getting hungry talking about pancakes). Check out these two buoy forecasts (derived from wavewatchIII). The first is the Dana Point Buoy, which is probably the most relevant for the US Open this weekend…doesn’t get me real fired up to watch the finals.



The second is from the O-side buoy…this is probably the most exposed nearshore buoy that can highlight the small SW swell that hits over the weekend…as you can see there is a little pick-up in size as you get out from the Catalina and San Clemente Island Shadow.



Further out there is a little storm forming up in our window in about 3-4 days that will push a chest-shoulder S-SW swell (190-210) that would arrive around August 14-15.



Even Further out There is a better looking storm waaaay out on the charts…giving us at least an outside chance at some more SSW-SW swell for around August 19-20 or so. I like this storm more than the one possibly setting up swell for the middle of August…it looks like it has a bit more energy bleeding in from the tropics that could give the whole system a bit more life (and eventual swell size).

Tropics
We got a brand new Tropical Depression that formed up today…TD-07e had been intensifying most of the day and finally reached TD strength later in the afternoon.



Current forecasts have it becoming named storm Estelle over the next 24 hours taking a slow track toward Socorro Island over the next several days…possibly reaching close to hurricane strength. This storm is still a ways away from sending any sort of surf to Socal…but there is a chance at some waves heading toward Baja Sur and parts of Mainland Mexico...though it depends on how the storm behaves.



the Next Long-range forecast will be posted on Monday, August 9, 2010.

Adam Wright
Surf Forecaster
http://www.socalsurf.com/