Weekend Waves – More freaking storm!

So the weekend is starting to look a little slop-tacular…I think it will be semi-surfable on Saturday (depending on the spot) and then blown out and storm both Sunday and Monday.

Saturday will see a mix of WNW and SW swell along with some local windswell. Most spots will be around waist-chest high with some shoulder high sets. Shape will be on the warbly side…sort of windswelly with an occasional cross-up from the punchier WNW/SW combo. Like I said it will be rideable but may spots will feel a little mixed up. Expect S-SW wind around 5-10 knots through the morning as well…those winds will increase through the afternoon and into Sunday.

If you are going to surf on Saturday you best bet is a good combo spot that can pull in a little bit of the windswell as well. If you are looking for cleaner conditions you are also going to want to hit up spots that are protected from the S winds. (Spots in Ventura, the South Bay, Central OC, and La Jolla usually do the best on these winds). Biggest surf will continue to show through San Diego but, like Friday, there will be fun sized waves in almost every region (expect north Santa Barbara…it will be pretty small up there).


Sunday is forecast to be stormy. Building S winds 15-25 knots and periods of rain will move in throughout the day. I think this will be pretty much a write off from the get go…even if the storm moves through fast winds are likely to shift to the W around 20-25+ knots so it will still be blown out.

Personally I am going to try and check it early on Saturday…maybe go longboarding if the tide is too high. Then I am going to sleep in on Sunday and save my strength for drinking beer and eating chips during the superbowl.

Weekend waves – Sloppy Conditions possible

Looks like we are going to get the 50/50 mix over the weekend. Saturday looks like we will have decent, rideable surf. Sunday on the other hand is looking sloppy.

Saturday expect mostly small and slow surf for most areas. There will be a slowly building WNW swell in the water but it may not actually amount to that much after it gets worked over by the big tide swing. In general expect mostly knee-waist high longboard waves for the average spots. Standout breaks, mostly in San Diego, will have some bigger sets on the lower tides. Winds are expected to be clean in the morning but turn more onshore in the afternoon.

Sunday a funky little storm drops down the coast and sends in building NW windswell to mix with the increasing WNW swell. W winds (actually a swirling mix of both SW through NW winds) come along with it and we will have onshore sloppy texture for almost everywhere. There will be some bigger waves but I think it is going to be pretty junky and cold…so it might be better to do something else.

Unfortunately Monday is looking pretty similar to Sunday at this point. If that changes for some reason I will drop another update over the weekend.

Get a few fun ones on Saturday if you can!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Surfing for the weekend (AKA argh #@$% stupid weather!)

If I were looking at just the surf I would have said that this weekend will be “playful”. Unfortunately when I factor in the weather I think it is going to be “disorganized.”

We will have leftover SW swell slowly fading through the weekend and a bit of increasing WNW energy in the form of both windswell and some longer-period swell. Wave heights will average around waist-chest high but there may be a few bigger sets lurking at the top combo spots on the better parts of the tide.

Weatherwise there is a cold front approaching that is forecast to move through SoCal late on Sunday…but it starts altering the weather pattern as early as Saturday afternoon. Winds will get squirrelly, shifting from SW to W and will probably range from 0 to 15 knots. We will probably have some fog/drizzle move through as well.

The best surf on both Saturday and Sunday will come in little pockets…with the biggest stretch of halfway decent surf showing on Saturday morning. If you can, you should find a spot that cooperates with the tide and has a little protection from the wind. Biggest surf will be in North San Diego and South Orange County. By Sunday evening, as the SW’er fades and the NW swell becomes more prominent, look for the biggest waves at winter spots in San Diego.

Personally I will probably go out and try and find a couple of waves on Saturday morning…but on Sunday I will take a look at the cams before driving anywhere.

(if I somehow end up standing to close to a computer over the weekend I may throw a quick update about the NW swells coming in next week…so keep an eye out for updates)