Waves for the Weekend - Sloppy with an extra side of funky

It doesn’t look like much of a surf weekend...the surf stays on the small side with just sort of substandard swells, the weather gets sort of nasty as rain and S winds move in, and if that wasn't bad enough we have a super high tide that peaks in the mornings and just buries us.

Surfwise we are going to have a mix of SSW energy and some local WNW windswell on Saturday. The average exposed breaks will have surf in the waist-high+ range while the better combo spots stay right around chest high with some rare chest high+ sets. Shape will be a bit soft since all of these swells have fairly short periods (around 12-14 seconds on the SSW'er and around 6-8 on WNW energy)...add in that the high tide swamps it...and it looks like mostly close to shore mushburgers or shorebreak.

Sunday the WNW energy builds as more windswell starts to arrive...it will be pretty steep with most of the energy coming in around 290-300+ and the winds setting it up will come along with it...so shape isn't going to be that great. The top exposed spots will build into the chest-shoulder high+ range by the afternoon...maybe even a few bigger waves at the really good windswell spots.

Weather is what really works us over. S-SW winds around 10-15 knots and periods of rain start to arrive on Saturday (probably strongest by the afternoon). Sunday will see the same winds in the morning and then more W-erly flow by the afternoon...probably more rain as well. Looks like another cold front with more consistent rain pushes through the area on Monday. (lame).



Anyway I don't think it will be worth spending much time trying to hunt down the surf this weekend...the combo of the tide, weather, and lack of surf is going to be pretty frustrating. There may be a couple of small surf windows out there if you need to get in the water for some reason...so if you "have" to surf I would try and pick a spot with the right mix of protection from the winds, lack of tide sensitivity, but with still enough exposure to pull in a few waves...(yeah like you are going to find a lot spots like this). Really I think your best bet is to keep an eye on the local winds, if they aren't too bad give the cams a quick check and see if you can spot a fun peak or two.

Have a good one...

PS...if I don't make it back on Monday it is because I had too much fun at the Christmas party and ended up borrowing (I believe the technical term is "piracy") someone's Duffy Boat and terrorized Newport Harbor. Man I love holiday parties!



Here are the tides

Saturday
02:18AM LST 2.0 L
08:31AM LST 7.0 H
04:05PM LST -1.7 L
10:35PM LST 3.8 H

Sunday
03:10AM LST 2.1 L
09:19AM LST 6.8 H
04:54PM LST -1.5 L
11:27PM LST 3.8 H

Thursday’s Surf – Starting to get a bit funky

I hope you have been surfing the last couple of days because it looks like the wheels are going to start to come off the nice conditions that we have been having.

That being said Thursday morning looks pretty surfable for most areas but it could be a bit bumpy-funky in a few spots.

The WNW/SW swell mix continues on Thursday…with very similar wave heights to what we have been seeing. Lots of spots in the waist-shoulder high+ range while the standout breaks, mostly the combo spots in San Diego and Orange County, will have head high and overhead sets.

The weather is what is going to be an issue. Winds in the outer waters are starting to crank up and it looks like we will see a fairly strong SoCal Eddy form tomorrow morning. Winds are expected to be out of the S-SE in the morning for San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles. Santa Barbara to about Northern Ventura will have NW winds around 10+ knots in the morning. The afternoon looks pretty breezy W-SW winds around 10-15+ knots.

Here is a shot of the wind forecast for tomorrow…note the big blob of yellow/green next to Orange County…(that is not making me feel all fired up to check the surf in the morning).



Your best bet for waves is to head to spots where those winds are going to be offshore. Looks like some of Santa Barbara will be ok, particularly if the winds have more of a northerly bent to them. The best areas will be San Diego spots like La Jolla and the South Bay in LA…they should be the cleanest.

I am probably going to get up and check the cams early…if the wind isn’t showing on the web then you might be able to pick off a few before it gets going to bad.