Thursday’s Surf – Fading WNW-NW swell…but still fun

Thursday will be a surf day…the WNW-NW swell will be on the way down but there will still be plenty energy leftover to keep things rideable.

The WNW-NW swell (280-300) will be fading on Thursday...backing down but not dropping off all that quickly. There will be a little touch of background SSW energy but not enough to worry much about.



Wave heights at the average WNW-NW facing spots will be in the waist-chest high range with a few shoulder high sets pushing through on the lower tides. The standout NW spots will still be in the chest-shoulder high range with some less consistent head high sets still sneaking through on those lower tides.

Winds look good for the morning…mostly light and variable to light offshore for most areas. Winds shift more onshore for the afternoon…pushing out of the W around 10-15 knots through the second part of the day.



The swell, despite missing the long-periods, ended up being fun on Wednesday and the energy is still holding on the more NW’erly outer buoys, so I am expecting some more fun on Thursday. I would look for the best shape at the well exposed points/reefs…but there are some pretty groomed sandbars out there that will be worth a check, particularly through the morning. Look for the size and the consistency to drain off in the afternoon.

Make sure to check the regional forecasts to see how the swell mix affects the different stretches of coastline.

Regional/County Forecasts

Santa Barbara Surf Forecast
Ventura County Surf Forecast
Los Angeles County Surf Forecast
Orange County Surf Forecast
San Diego Surf Forecast

Here are the tides…

02/04/2010 Thursday
12:33AM LST 5.0 H
07:31AM LST 0.9 L
01:08PM LST 3.1 H
06:40PM LST 1.3 L

Surf for Monday – Fading but still fun

Monday will be a surf day.

Our swell mix will be slowly backing down on Monday but will still have enough energy to continue to send in plenty of rideable waves.

Swellwise, the WNW-NW’er (285-300) that peaked over the weekend will be slowly dropping through the day while it mixes with an inconsistent/smaller SW swell (200-220). Thanks to some trailing elements in the storm that produced the NW swell the energy is not going to fade out all that fast…so we can expect some fading but fun waves through the first part of the week.



On Monday the average WNW-NW facing breaks, and a few of the better combo spots, will be in the chest-shoulder high range. Top NW facing spots and the exceptionally exposed combo spots will be in the chest-head high range fairly consistently but with some bigger head high+ sets still trying to slip through during the morning tide push.

The NW swell is seeing some shadowing issues since a lot of its energy is holding around 295-300-degree range…so there can be some big differences in both size and consistency as you move from a well-exposed spot to something a bit more shadowed. Keep in mind that the largest waves will be at the best NW facing breaks in Ventura, The South Bay, and Southern San Diego.

Winds look good on Monday…mostly light and variable to light-offshore through the morning. Building W-WSW winds in the 10-13 knot range move in through mid-afternoon but start to back off again around sunset.



Monday looks pretty fun…nothing massive, but not totally gutless leftovers either if you can find a break with some decent NW exposure. Winds and tides are going to cooperate a little more for the dawn patrol, which is nice since they usually don’t play that nice with each other. With the swell dropping, and not every spot fully exposed to the NW’er you might want to think about bringing a board that handles soft waves a little better, not necessarily a small-wave board…just something that might push through the mushy ones a little better.

Here are the tides…
11/09/2009 - Monday
03:43AM LST 4.0 H
08:42AM LST 2.9 L
02:08PM LST 4.6 H
09:34PM LST 0.2 L

I have the regional/county forecasts up and running so make sure you check them for more details on your local spots.

Santa Barbara - http://socalforecastsb.blogspot.com/
Ventura - http://socalforecastven.blogspot.com/
Los Angeles - http://socalforecastla.blogspot.com/
Orange County - http://socalforecastoc.blogspot.com/
San Diego - http://socalforecastsd.blogspot.com/