Waves for Wednesday – New W-WNW swell

Wednesday is looking like a surf day…though it may start a little slow in the morning.

We are going to have a new pulse of W-WNW swell (275-300) that will be filling in throughout the day…it will start to show up in Santa Barbara and Ventura earlier in the morning and then pushing into the more southerly counties by the afternoon. Check out a satellite shot of the storm spinning out this swell just off the coast this afternoon.



And close up with the lovely windbarbs…



This is another of those swells where the energy is loaded more in the (290-300) range, but there is enough juice in the more westerly portion of the fetch that most W facing breaks will be able to pull in some new waves. There will also be a little touch of SSW energy in the water (190-210), not enough to break up the building W swell, but hopefully enough to crease some of the sets at the combo spots. Check out how the CDIP models are showing this swell fill in.


Wait for it


Just a bit longer


Here you go


Now don't you feel better

So for tomorrow…I expect most of the average WNW facing breaks to start off with surf in the waist-chest high range, with mostly soft and slow shape thanks to that morning high tide. A few of the better WNW-NW facing areas up in Santa Barbara and Ventura (mostly Ventura) will have some chest-shoulder high surf with bigger sets mixing in at times.

By the afternoon all of the W-WNW facing spots will be in the chest-shoulder high range. The standout WNW-NW breaks in Ventura, the South Bay, and San Diego, will have surf running consistently chest-head high with overhead sets on those drained out lower tides. This swell will continue to fill in overnight and it looks like similar but more consistent sizes on tap for Thursday, and possibly some bigger sets at the standouts.

Winds look really good for most areas tomorrow…light and variable to light offshore in the morning, with clean conditions on tap for most spots. F-ing freezing air temps though, which will suck. Look for moderate/variable onshore flow in the midafternoon but with a chance for winds to lay down in the protected areas as the sun sets, overall it shouldn’t get too blown out, particularly if our air temps stay on the cool side.



Like I said…tomorrow looks pretty fun. Don’t expect a ton of new waves in the morning unless you live way up the coast…and even those areas will have to contend with the morning high tide…but by the afternoon the well exposed spots should have plenty to ride. Points and Reefs look like they will have the best shape. Beach breaks will likely be pretty lined up, but you might be able to find a few corners at spots with good sandbars or something to break up the WNW energy.

Here are the tides…happy hump day!

12/16/2009 Wednesday
01:56AM LST 2.4 L
08:04AM LST 6.0 H (Swampthing!)
03:37PM LST -0.9 L
10:07PM LST 3.6 H


Oh and the Pipe Master final between Slater and Taj just started…they are broadcasting it live in HD on FuelTV (on the actual TV, not just your ‘puter). What live surfing on TV?!? That is just crazy talk.

Waves for Wednesday – big WNW swell builds throughout the day

Wednesday will be a surf day…a really good surf day (if you don’t mind the questionable water quality).

The WNW swell (280-300) will be on the rise throughout the day on Wednesday and will mix with some lumpy local windswell and a trace of SW swell that will basically evaporate in the bigger WNW-NW swell.

Due to the nature of the WNW swell angle and the timing of the storm, we can expect a pretty significant increase in swell for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties early on Wednesday…but the swell won’t be peaking for those areas until late in the day…likely after dark.

Eventually the swell will push into to all the exposed NW breaks…we can even expect a few waves showing early but not a really big jump in wave heights until later in the afternoon. Check out how the CDIP wave model shows the swell filling in on Wednesday…

Here it is at 3am



and 9am



By 3pm it continues to fill in




Winds look ok for Wednesday…sort of light/variable for the morning with some leftover texture and onshore flow for a few areas. The forecast is calling for a touch more wind than I think it should…mostly because it is freezing ass cold and that has a tendency to throw together a land-breeze as the ground temps drop lower than the ocean…I think we will have fairly clean conditions early but enough instability that variable onshore bump returns around midday and possibly strengthens into the afternoon.



So as this swell builds I expect the best shape to be at the points/reefs…this sort of size will just close out the directly exposed beach breaks...there may be a window in the morning for the southerly counties where the size hasn’t jumped too much and the beach breaks will be more makeable, just expect it to shift around by the end of the day. Water quality won’t be the best…really with the amount of rain it will be pretty nasty at the spots affected by runoff…so as usual we end up having to weigh the risks of catching some nasty against the quality of the surf. Personally I am going to hunt around some of the more protected areas close to home…but if I had a real point/reef sort of close that would be my first check. If your region really sucks on these swells for some reason, and you love big waves, this would be a good swell to drive a little further for…but I might save it for Thursday as the swell peaks everywhere, not just further north.

Here are the tides…good luck, stay safe, and send me some pictures if you get a chance.

12/09/2009 Wednesday
03:31AM LST 4.8 H
10:01AM LST 1.7 L
03:20PM LST 3.6 H
09:34PM LST 1.0 L