Surfboard Riding on Friday the 13th – Hope you aren’t superstitious

Friday will be a surf day…much smaller than the beginning of the week but still fun.

Our SW swell will have backed down even further on Friday but it will continue to mix with some local WNW windswell energy and should still have enough juice to send in playful waves to the better SW facing spots.

The average SW breaks and average combo spots can expect surf to hold around waist-chest high through most of the day…with maybe a few chest high+ waves on the tide push midmorning.

Standout SW facing spots, again focusing mostly on San Diego and South Orange County, will have chest-shoulder high sets with a few head high peaks on the better tides.

Conditions generally look pretty good with mostly light and variable winds expected through the morning and moderate W winds around 12+ knots coming through during the afternoon.

Personally I think Friday is going to be a pretty fun surf day…there will be plenty of energy in the water, winds will be decent, is supposed to be warmer (weatherwise), and the water has warmed up quite a bit. Points and reefs in OC and SD will continue to see the biggest and generally the best looking surf…but beach breaks will continue to improve in shape thanks to the smaller swell and a little bit more windswell moving in to break it up. I would still expect some current along the open beaches (once water gets moving it sort of follows the path of least resistance until we really run out of swell energy)...but it shouldn’t be as bad as the last few days.

Watch out for ladders, black cats, mirrors, snake-eyes, splitting 10’s, and great white sharks (I hear those are pretty bad luck too).

Thursday’s Surf – Wave Heights are winding down

Thursday will be a surf day but expect wave heights to be smaller than the last couple of days.

The SW swell that has been peaking over the last couple of days will begin to wind down even faster on Thursday. There will still be plenty of surfable energy and some local WNW windswell to help cross up the combo spots but in general expect the surf to be smaller and more on the playful side.

Average SW facing spots will have surf in the waist-chest high+ range with some shoulder high sets on the tide push. Standout SW facing spots in Orange County and San Diego will still have some chest-shoulder high surf with some head high sets mixing in at times.

Conditions look decent for the morning with mostly light and variable to light southerly winds. W winds come onshore around the usual 10-14 knots through the afternoon.

Looks like we will have a few more surf options on Thursday…the points and reefs will continue to have the best shape but with the smaller wave heights it looks like the beach breaks will start to be a bit more crossed-up and workable, particularly if they are spots that have some exposure to the WNW windswell. I would still expect some decent crowds at the top spots but hopefully we will get a chance to spread out a little more.

It looks cleanest in the morning but there will also be a bit of a high tide that we have to push through. We are sort of back in pattern of waiting for the tide to drop and hoping that the winds don’t get too strong before it gets low enough to help out the shape. If you are surfing early try and aim for spots that can handle a little more water…if you can wait try and paddle out sometime midmorning.

Surf For Tuesday: Another day of fun waves

Notes on Monday: I just got out of the water at HB State Beach and man it was good. Lots of crossed up a-frames with hollow corners…most of which were in the easy shoulder-head high range and few sets that were overhead. Of course the wind switched about 30 minutes after we paddled out (so about 12:30pm) and started going onshore…but even with the bump it was still pretty fun. I would keep an eye on it this afternoon…if the winds lighten up, or go offshore again it is worth trying to grab a few. Anyway…on to Tuesday…

Tuesday will be another good surf day.

It won’t be as offshore as Monday but winds are expected to be light in the morning and we will still have plenty of swell in the water.

We will have a mix of steady S-SW swell and a smaller WNW swell. Most breaks will continue to see waist-shoulder high surf while the standouts, Mostly OC and San Diego, see head high sets.

Winds will be light and variable in the morning before coming onshore around 10-15 knots out of the NW by the afternoon. One thing you may want to watch. Winds are supposed to be fairly north in the morning for Santa Barbara, Ventura, and LA. This probably won’t affect North LA of SB that much but there could be some side-shore texture in Ventura and the South bay.


The tide will be an issue in the morning…there is a 5’+ high tide that rolls in about an hour or so after sunrise. This will keep things pretty slow through the dawn patrol. So if you have to surf in the morning head to a break that can handle the high tide.

Your best bet for surf will be to wait out the morning tide…the tide is just so swampy that it is going to really tweak most breaks in the morning. Once the tide drops you are going to see the best surf at the combo breaks. San Diego and OC will be the biggest, and probably the cleanest, surf…while the other regions will be a little smaller and less consistent.

So to sum up:

1. wait for the tide to drop
2. biggest surf at the combo spots in SD and OC
3. Winds will be light but increasing in the afternoon

Surfing this weekend

Our waves look fun this weekend…nothing too big…but not totally gutless either. We will have a mix of NW and SW energy in the water, wave heights will be in the waist-chest high range at most breaks. Standout combo spots will be a little bigger, around shoulder high on sets. Saturday and Sunday look very similar so I am not expecting much change in size day to day. Conditions should be good as well…mostly light winds in the morning and evenings, just a touch of onshore flow in the afternoons.

Since the mix of swells is fairly democratic you should be able to find surf pretty much anywhere. San Diego and parts of Orange County will have the biggest waves just because they are a little more exposed to the swell mix. LA and Ventura counties will have decent waves too but the bigger sets may be less consistent. Santa Barbara is sort of out of luck and will be shadowed from both swells and will be on the smaller side.

I am going to head down to the beach for a surf on Saturday, (Sunday I have to go to a marathon…WTF!...sometimes I am not sure how I get roped into some of the things I do). I will probably aim for mid-morning and let the tide drop a little from the high that comes through in the morning.