Monday’s Surf – Short dawn patrol window

Overall Monday won’t be a surf day…but winds in the early morning may be manageable for a couple of hours after sunrise…the rest of the day looks pretty breezy.

Swellwise we are going to continue to see a pretty solid mix in the water. The S-SSW swell (180-210) will be slowly fading while the NW windswell holds steady.



Average S facing spots and the good NW breaks will be in the chest-head high range with a few bigger waves mixing in during the lower tides. The standout S facing spots in Orange County, and the best NW combo spots (mostly in SD) will see some shoulder-overhead surf with sets still going a couple of feet overhead.

Winds don’t look great on Monday but there will be a few hours of light winds through the morning in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. I am not sure how much the shape will clean up considering that the winds pretty much howled most of Sunday and will hold on through most of the night as well…still if you have a spot with a little protection, or something like a big patch of kelp that can knock down the bump, (and the winds lighten up like the models suggest), then I would at least give the cams/wind-obs a check in the morning. The winds, even in those areas, will turn around about 9-10am and we can expect W winds around 12-18+ knots by the afternoon.



I don’t think you should get your hopes up for tomorrow morning…there will be a few pockets at select breaks, but most breaks are going to have plenty of leftover slop/bump that a couple of hours of light winds aren’t going to be able to erase.

Here are the tides…

05/24/2010 Monday
01:41AM LDT 0.0 L
07:34AM LDT 3.6 H
12:59PM LDT 1.2 L
07:19PM LDT 5.9 H

Monday’s Surf – Starting to pick back up

Monday will be pretty surfably…conditions start clean but we have to slog through a mid-morning high tide which is pretty sucktacular. Despite the building swell…onshore winds will honk things up by the afternoon.

Swellwise we are going to have a mix of new WNW-NW swell (285-300 but with most of the energy holding in the 290-300 swell angles). We will also see some background SW swell (200-220) and building NW windswell both of which will push up slightly throughout the day.



Most spots will be in the knee-waist high range for the morning…with some bigger chest high sets showing at the better WNW facing average breaks. The standouts, mostly Ventura, the South Bay, and San Diego, will be in the chest-shoulder high range with some rare bigger sets showing at spots that like the higher tides. By the afternoon look for more waist-chest high+ surf at the average spots and a few head high+ sets hitting the standout breaks.

Winds look ok in the morning…mostly light and variable with a few small pockets of offshore still showing in a few places. Since the wind doesn’t get much of a chance to shift around the local air we might see some fog in a few places as well…it shouldn’t be much of a problem, just keep in mind that it might not be totally sunny at the beach. NW winds around 10-15 knots start to pick up a little before lunchtime and will eventually peak later in the afternoon.



Again…not super exciting surfwise…the building swell helps, but it doesn’t look like a ton of it will show before the onshore winds start to get to it. The high tide doesn’t do us any favors either. I think that the early morning will be the most fun, clean conditions, the tide pushing in, and some of the new swell starting to arrive too...if you stick to exposed spots that can handle the higher tide it could end up being a pretty playful start to the week. If you wait too long…or all of the sand at your beach is gone…then the tide and the building winds won’t make it all that appealing.

Make sure to check out the regional forecasts for the details for each county.

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…

03/29/2010 Monday
03:21AM LDT -0.4 L
09:17AM LDT 5.1 H
03:27PM LDT -0.2 L
09:32PM LDT 5.8 H

Monday’s Surf – A chance to get some W swell

Monday isn’t going to be much of a surf day but there may be a surf window setting up for the morning.

Our W-WNW swell (280-300+) moved into exposed areas on Sunday…I got reports that Santa Barbara was pretty fun and I saw some good looking sets rolling into Ventura. The winds didn’t hold but it is nice to see some swell in those areas.

The W swell will continue to hold as we move into Monday (it should actually be peaking in OC and SD in the morning but the swell angle is starting to shift a little NW slow look for fewer spots to be exposed to the bigger surf). There will be some background SW swell (190-210) slowly fading out as well. Check out the CDIP model from this afternoon.



I still expect surf in the waist-shoulder high range for most W facing beaches on Monday. The better exposed areas will have some head high sets…and the top spots, mostly in San Diego, the South Bay, and Ventura, will have some overhead sets.

The winds look like they are going to be a bitch in the afternoon…but we may have a small window of semi-clean conditions through the morning, particularly at the spots that have a little protection from W-NW breezes. Look for winds to start below 10 knots out of the W in the morning…then increase for all areas…eventually topping out 13-15+ knots out of the WNW by the afternoon. Here is a shot of the COAMPS forecast for the morning.



With the rain that came through on Sunday I am not really stoked on the water quality. I haven’t looked at rainfall totals but it seemed like there was enough to get the storm drains flowing in a few spots. The first rains of the year are always the nastiest…it seems like you get all the crap, trash, shopping carts, dead bodies, ect ect pushing out during the first rain. Usually the health department recommends waiting at least 72 hours after a significant rain.

Anyway…if you have to surf I would try and check the W facing spots but areas that offer a little protection from the wind. I would also try and get on it early before the tide fills in and the winds come onshore. If you are west swell junky then it might be worth a dawn patrol but personally I am going to wait for enough light for a cam check before I commit to driving down to look at it in person.

Here are the tides for Monday…

10:47AM 4.7’ High
07:30PM 0.8’ Low