Friday’s Surf – Still a little breezy…but with a few little bubbles forming

For most areas, and really most of the day, Friday isn’t looking very surfable…but there may be a few areas where winds are a little more northerly (and the spots are positioned a little better) where a few little bubbles of surfy-ness could spring up.

In the water we are going to have a mix of building/peaking NW windswell and some decent sized, but mostly hacked apart, SSW-SW swell (190-210) that will be starting to peak as well.



Sizewise…will be all over the place. Spots with just a bit of exposure will be in the chest high range with some shoulder high sets. The better exposed NW spots, particularly breaks that can pull in a little of the SW combo energy, will be in the shoulder-head high range. The top NW facing breaks, mostly through Southern Ventura and the South Bay, will be head high+ with a few bigger waves mixing in. South SD will be the biggest…with some sets going several feet+ overhead, but with some pretty sloppy shape thanks to most of the energy being NW windswell.

Winds for the most part aren’t looking all that good…the NW flow is forecast to get a jump on things pretty early…and since it really isn’t going to let up tonight…the sloppy shape is going to continue for most areas. There are a few spots (you can see on the map below) where the winds have more of a northerly tint to them…or the overall flow is just lighter…it seems like these little bubbles are setting up near areas that have some pretty decent sized coastal hills…so if you have a little more elevation near your beach (and I didn’t circle it) you might want to give it a look in the morning…don’t drive all that far, but if it is just around the corner it never hurts to check. W-NW winds around 10-20 knots will return for the afternoon.



So while the winds won’t be gale-force onshore…there isn’t going to be a ton of clean up on Friday…at least there will be a couple of semi-manageable areas during the morning (but lets be honest ANYTHING would have been better than the slop that I saw running down the north OC beaches around lunchtime on Thursday). I think your best bet is going to be the S facing spots that have a lot of wind protection…or maybe a couple of the points that have enough “wrap” to the inside section that the NW winds don’t completely trash it. Personally I think my pillow will be the best call…choppy, sloppy, nad-freezing crumblers are not helping motivate me to set my alarm all that early.

Here are the tides…cross your fingers that the wind models are overcalling things (by a lot).

04/30/2010 Friday
05:29AM LDT -1.0 L
11:49AM LDT 3.6 H
04:36PM LDT 1.9 L
10:44PM LDT 5.7 H

Surf for Monday – Windswell, WNW energy, and maybe a small morning window

If you look at the whole day, Monday isn’t looking like much of a surf day...but there may be a little wiggle-room in the morning.

In the water we are going to have a mix of steady and still pretty strong NW windswell, some medium period WNW-NW swell (285-300) that moves in slowly throughout the day, and some background SW energy.



Most average WNW facing breaks are going to see surf in the waist-chest high range...but with a few bigger sets at the spots that do better on the short-period swells. Top NW facing breaks will be in the chest-head high range with a few bigger sets mixing in through the better parts of the tide. Most of the bigger sizes will be at the NW windswell standouts in San Diego, but the better NW areas in Ventura and the South Bay will have some bigger sizes as well.

Winds are where things look a little funky. The general wind for tomorrow will be onshore, with plenty of NW winds continuing to follow in behind the departing cold front that battered us all weekend. We may see a little surf window in the morning…particularly if our air-temps get really cold tonight. If it gets cold enough we may see a bit of a land-breeze form up, which would keep shape at least sort of rideable in the semi-protected areas for the morning. Check out the COAMPS…they are showing a bit of that instability/land-breeze in the forecast model.



So overall I am not expecting it to be very clean, or that fun on Monday…while there might be some lumpy, but not totally blown out peaks in the morning, it won’t last long. Eventually the winds will turn onshore out of the WNW-NW around 10-20 knots and tear up shape all over by the middle of the day. Really, between the questionable clean and the continuingly poor water quality, you probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time on the surf for Monday…but if poo-water doesn’t bother you, and you live close-by, you might give your windswell spot a quick drive-by or at least a fast morning cam check.

Here are the tides…have a good week!

12/14/2009 Monday
12:41AM LST 2.2 L
06:55AM LST 6.0 H
02:26PM LST -0.9 L
08:51PM LST 3.6 H