Weekend Surf - good beginners weekend or as I like to call it "pretty freaking small"

There will be a few waves this weekend but they will be small, soft, and not really all that rideable unless you are breaking out the big boards.

Swellwise we are going to limp through both Saturday and Sunday with small ankle-waist high waves at most of the average spots. Standout breaks will be in the knee-chest high range off the mix of S-SW leftovers and NW windswell.

Winds look ok...mostly light and variable in the mornings with some onshore bump around 10 knots for the afternoons. It looks like the combo of heavier, more humid, air and light winds through the afternoons may create the potential for cleaner conditions around sundown on both Saturday and Sunday...if only we had some waves to go with it.

From a surf-perspective there aren't a lot of reasons to paddle out this weekend...but on the other hand it will be being nice and warm and surfing is always better than doing chores or running errands...so in the head-to-head battle I think surfing wins. Just don't expect a ton from it and you can probably convince yourself that you are having fun.

Waves for the weekend – Happy 4th of July!

Looks like it will be a surfable weekend…nothing huge on tap but there will be a few fun rideable waves at the better exposed spots. More importantly the weather and the winds should be pretty good…mostly light and variable throughout both days (just a little bump in the afternoons).

Surfwise we are going to have a mix of SW swells, some local windswell, and some very background leftover tropical energy.

Saturday will be a little bigger with a lot of waist-chest high waves at the average spots and some bigger chest-shoulder high sets at the standout S facing breaks and best combo spots.

Sunday will be closer to knee-waist high at the average spots and chest high+ at the standouts.

Looks like OC and San Diego will have the biggest surf this weekend…mostly South OC and North San Diego. It won’t really be worth fighting traffic to get to those areas so if you aren’t close already then you might want to just stick around your local breaks. With the light wind and S swell pushing in warmer water again it should make surfing smaller waves a bit more bearable. Try and get it on the tide push in the morning…you will have some better consistency (and are more likely to find parking).

That is about it for the next couple of days…have a great holiday!

Weekend Surf – more SW swell (and maybe a little tropical energy)

Looks like we should have a decent surf weekend.

Our SW swell will fill in more overnight and peak into Saturday before slowly fading out on Sunday. Local NW windswell will hold in the background for most of the weekend as well.

Most spots with SW exposure will continue to see waist-chest high surf while the standout South OC and North San Diego SW facing surf spots see shoulder-head high+ sets. It will be a bit inconsistent on the bigger sets but we should have some playful sizes as we move through the tide push.

Sunday will be a touch smaller with more waist than chest high surf at the average spots and smaller sets (mostly shoulder high) at the top SW facing spots.

Winds look ok…well at least the eddy is supposed to back off over the weekend. Generally expect light/variable winds on Saturday morning and touch more variable onshore texture on Sunday. Both afternoons will have onshore winds around 10-15+ knots so try and surf early rather than later if you can.

Now about the tropical swell…there are 2 tropical systems spinning in the SoCal swell window…the better looking one is TS Boris whose storm core has just barely moved into the extreme SE portion of our swell window. TD-3E is the other system it is about 1200 miles due south of us…and while it doesn’t have the wind speeds Boris does it is showing some spin on the satellite loop which means that there is a chance at getting some minor swell from it.




At this point I wouldn’t expect much, if any energy to really show over the weekend, if some does it will be very short-period S swell from TS-3E, which would arrive later on Sunday. Overall it won’t add any size but it may help to increase the consistency of our surf.

Boris on the other hand is moving into our window and is expected to strengthen as he does. His storm track (WNW at 8-knots) isn’t the greatest but he is showing good rotation and some halfway decent wind speeds. Right now I am expecting to see at least a waist-chest high SE swell from Boris that starts to fill in on Monday and will eventually peak Monday night into Tuesday of next week. A lot depends on how he actually behaves over the next 24-30 hours or so…but like I said at this point I am expecting surf from him.

Here check out some of the charts on Boris...

Weekend Waves - SW swell combo fun

Looks like both Saturday and Sunday will be surf days this weekend...(hooray for us!)

We will have a mix of SW swell and some local WNW windswell. Wave heights will hold around waist-chest high for most areas. Standout SW facing spots and good combo breaks will have some shoulder-head high waves on the best sets.

Tides will be a bit of an issue early in the mornings both Saturday and Sunday. We have a negative -1.1' low (at 7am) on Saturday and a -0.8' Low (at 8am) on Sunday. These extreme low tides have a tendency to drain out a lot of the surf, especially the consistency of the sets, it also causes a lot of the beach breaks to get sectiony and walled up.

Fortunately the tides fill in through mid-morning so we get the benefit of a little more water under the surf and the extra little kick that the tide push gives to it.

Winds look OK for both days as well...there will be a slight eddy helping to keep some morning clouds and light and variable S-SE on tap for the first part of the day. W winds around 10-12 knots build in through the afternoons. These are also the kind of days that can potentially clean up around sunset...so if you live close to the beach (or will be hanging out all day) there is a chance that you might see some cleaner waves around sundown.

Your best bet for waves will be at the combo beach breaks that can handle the tide swing. The biggest surf will be showing through Northern San Diego and South Orange County...but there will be a few decent sized combo spots in other areas as well. I would plan on trying to hit it around mid-morning as the tide comes up and the wind is still light. I would also try and take an open mind because it is going to be crowded...probably really crowded. Personally I am going to check some (probably crappy) wide open beach break to see if I can find a peak with a manageable crowd.

Note on water temps...the water is getting pretty warm in a few areas (at least in North OC). Granted I am sort of built like some sort of a mix between a viking and rugby player but I surfed twice on Friday (in the morning and at lunch) and I trunked it with just a wetsuit top both times. I think most people would be pretty comfortable in a springsuit. (I haven't heard about SB or Ventura water temps...if any of you guys surf up that way drop me an email on how warm/cold the water is).

Have a great weekend...hope you have time to get a couple of waves!