Random Sunday Morning Surf Report – Stay in bed…the wheels sort of came off this morning.

Just did a quick beach check this morning and couldn’t find much of anything…and looking out over the outer buoys it looks like that new WNW swell is going to be quite a bit smaller, on Sunday and Monday, than I was anticipating…which sucks in a lot of ways.

I can already see where both I (and a couple of the forecast computer models) overestimated how much the storm would be able to capitalize on existing sea-state…and sort of glossed over the fact that the storm petered out in place rather than moving towards us, which is great in all but doesn’t change the fact that I am pissed that the swell isn’t showing this morning, and when it does fill in it will be smaller than I was calling for.

If that wasn’t enough a weak ripple in the local weather cropped up overnight bringing increasing onshore winds to chunk up already burgery leftover swell that is being swamped by the tide. So it is smaller, crappier, and swampier…all of which is a good reason to stay in bed this morning.

The swell does fill in a bit more this afternoon and the tide drops as well but it looks like the wind is going to funk it up and come onshore around 10-14 knots out of the NW. If you need to surf wait till later in the day and try and pick a winter spot that is protected from the wind.

Damn…I wanted to surf today too.

Friday's Surf - not really doing it for me

After the last few days of surf I don't think Friday is going to be much of a surf day. In fact it is going to be on the poor side shapewise for a few areas...especially compared to what we had at the beginning of the week.

We are going to have a mix of backing down SSW swell, fading WNW energy, and increasing local NW windswell.

Most spots are going to be in the waist high range while the more exposed breaks will be running chest high...with a few inconsistent chest-shoulder high sets mixing in.

There should also be some tropical SE swell starting to show some new waves later in the afternoon, but really I am looking for most of that energy to arrive after sunset.

Conditions are what screw us up...looks like onshore winds (similar to Thursday but increasing in strength)...will move in through the morning. There might be a semi-surfable area around N. LA in the morning but most other spots will have onshore winds around 5-10 knots. Afternoon winds build out of W-NW around 10-15+ knots for most areas and stronger gusts at the more exposed breaks.

Really I would plan on taking it easy on Friday...maybe drying out a little bit (I know my ears could take a couple days off, freaking surfer's ear). I wouldn't get up and burn gas or time early tomorrow...I don't think you are going to beat the wind. Personally I am going to do a cam check in the morning (later in the morning...my pillow sounds really nice right now)...just to make sure that I am not missing anything...then start watching the buoys for that tropical swell in the afternoon. Not planning on much surfing tomorrow.

Here are Friday's Tides if you need them

01:06AM 0.5' Low
07:32AM 4.4' High
01:12PM 2.0' Low
06:51PM 4.8' High

Monday’s waves – Not looking very surfable.

Well the storm didn’t quite live up to Friday’s forecast, as many of you could probably tell when you woke up to clear skies and light winds on Sunday morning. (Natuarlly I woke up and swore...seriously I think forecasters may be the only people who get mad when the weather is nice)

Looks like the models have pushed the storm back a little further into the week…but the models are changing almost every run at this point so I guess we will have to wait and see.

On to the surf…

Monday’s waves are not looking all that great. We will have a bit of local windswell, a small NW swell, and some weak SW energy. Most breaks will hold around ankle-waist high when the 6’+ high tide isn’t totally shutting it down.

Winds are supposed to be on it pretty early. We may have a short window of cleanliness right at sun-up but that is right about when the tide peaks as well. Expect SW-W winds blowing around 10-15 knots for most of the rest of the day.

Personally I am not very interested in surfing sub-par slop so I will probably do chores or something. If you have to surf bring something that works well with small waves, expect wind on it, and expect the tide to give it a good working over at times as well.

Surfing on Tuesday

I think Tuesday is going to be one of those “wait and see” mornings.

Overall weather is looking a little unstable. There is a cold front pushing down the coast and while it is expected to weaken as it moves into SoCal, it will likely destabilize the wind pattern. I think we will have some morning NW wind texture showing at the exposed breaks…and if it isn’t coming out of the NW the winds will likely eddy back and come in out of the SW, which is just as bad for most breaks.

Add to that the mix of windswell, and small southern hemi pulses, isn’t particularly strong. I think the surf will have a hard time powering through the higher morning tide.

So Tuesday is showing the potential for slow, soft, and possibly crumbly surf…not really something that I am going to shoot out of bed for in the morning. Personally I will check the cams for the dawn patrol…if it looks like we may have hit a little window of halfway decent surf I may drive down to check it in person, but I am not holding my breath.