Monday’s Surf – Clean but fading

Monday will be a surf day but expect smaller, less consistent surf that we saw on Sunday.

Our swell(s) are a mix of overlapping WNW energy (280-300 with most of the juice in the 290-300 range) and some smaller S-SW pulses.



Most spots will hold in the knee-waist high range with some chest high sets through the morning session but I expect the combo of fading swell and building tide to really steamroll things through midday. The top NW facing breaks, mostly in Southern Ventura, the South Bay, and Southern San Diego, will have some waist-shoulder high surf…and maybe even a few bigger waves down in the SD area through the early morning.

Winds look good. NE-E winds around 10-15 knots for the morning, putting it directly offshore for many breaks. Light and variable to mild onshore flow out of the WNW-NW around 10-12 knots for the afternoon.



The tides have swung around pretty fast from last week and we are starting to see a mild low-tide (around 1.5-feet) hitting right before dawn…the high tide is still a bit of a swamper but at least it is giving the dawn patrol session a lot more breathing room. With the swell mix mostly on the way down and the swell direction shifting a bit more NW’erly you might need to be a bit more selective when you pick your spot…if you are looking for size and consistency the more NW exposure it has the better. Personally I am going to try and get on it early and grab a few before the tide shuts it down…hopefully I can find a sandbar that can hold a little extra water.

Regional Forecasts are back up again…I am changing around the format a little bit…but hopefully it will give you a little more insight (and help you find a few more waves). Give ‘em a check when you get a chance.

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…

01/04/2010 Monday
05:21AM LST 1.6 L
11:06AM LST 5.3 H
06:06PM LST -0.5 L

Surf for Thursday – Building NW windswell (and the winds to go with it)

Thursday does not look like much of a surf day.

Local WNW-NW windswell will start to build on Thursday afternoon/evening as a weak cold front moves in from the outer waters brining along blustery NW winds. Leftover NW swell (290-300) and weak SW swell (200-220) will hold most of the day then move into the background as the windswell increases.



Mostly small surf will continue to push through during the morning on Thursday…look for the average spots to hold in the knee high range with some inconsistent waist high+ sets showing during the lower tides. Standout NW facing breaks in Ventura, the South Bay, and San Diego, will be in the waist-high range with some chest high sets.

The building windswell will start to add some size to the most exposed NW spots of Santa Barbara/Ventura later in the day…not much really…just a little bump before sundown. Expect this windswell to increase overnight into Friday morning.

The morning doesn’t look particularly clean on Thursday…NW winds will be piling up a few miles off the coast and should come onshore fairly quickly. There may be a little pocket during the dawn patrol…sort of light/variable flow in the more protected areas…and light onshore at the more open spots. NW winds will build in quick by midmorning and will eventually hit the 10-15+ knot range for most areas, while Santa Barbara and Ventura see gusts hitting in the 20+ knot range. Here is a shot of the COAMPS for Thursday morning…



Hmmm…small morning leftovers with some light bump…or building windswell slop with stiff NW winds…for some reason neither sound that appealing to me…I think I might stay in and surf my pillow a little longer. If you have to surf…well bring the small wave gear in the morning, and try and find a protected/sheltered spot for the afternoon (and still plan on bringing the small wave gear). It looks pretty breezy for the next couple of days…but we may see some clean up for the weekend…hopefully the windswell will hold on long enough to have something to ride once the conditions even out.

Here are the tides…

11/12/2009 Thursday
05:39AM LST 5.5 H
12:18PM LST 0.7 L
06:02PM LST 4.2 H
11:54PM LST 1.0 L

Links for the regional forecasts…

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/

Monday’s Surf – Picking up slightly and with a touch of offshores

Monday still won’t be much of a surf day.

Sure…conditions will be clean through the morning and we will have a touch of new NW swell (290-300 with most of the every above 295-degrees) mixing in with the minor NW and SW leftovers we already have in the water...but the new swell it isn’t very strong to begin with, it is also shadowed by the more northerly swell angle, and to top it off, it has to power through a 6’ high tide right smack in the middle of the morning session. Basically the combo of a weak swell mix and a solid morning high tide is going to shut down much chance of it being a “surf day”.



Wave heights for tomorrow are going to continue to hold around knee high at the average spots with a few rare waist high sets mixing in on the lower tides. The standout NW facing breaks will be a touch bigger, mostly in the knee-waist high range with some rare chest high sets. Unfortunately like I mentioned before the high-tide is going to flatten out all but the most tide resilient breaks…really with this much water even the spots that like a “higher” tide are going to have some issues.

Winds will be good…light to moderate offshore in the morning…sort of classic Fall conditions. Winds will stay light through midday and then turn onshore out of the WNW around 10-14 knots at the more exposed areas.



I think our best bet is to try and wait for the tide to drop…hopefully we will be able to see a few lines start to show as we head towards lunchtime. I wouldn’t waste a lot of time looking for waves in the morning, just too much tide already for most places. Even if you can stall out your session till the tide drops plan on bringing the small wave boards (mostly longboards) and expect to be sitting around most of the time while waiting for rideable sets.

Here are the tides…

01:39AM LST 1.6 L
07:45AM LST 6.1 H (swampthing!)
02:54PM LST -0.5 L
09:05PM LST 4.0 H

Wednesday's Waves - Combo swell surfing on Hump Day

Wednesday is looking like a surf day...but we will have to work around the 6'+ high tide that buries us around 9:30am.

We are going to have a mix of new SSW swell (190-200) and WNW swell (290-300) as well as a touch of local NW windswell. Here is a shot of the swell mix starting to fill in this afternoon on the CDIP model...(try and ignore the swell periods and directions sometimes the model does screwy things when it averages swells together).



Surfwise the average exposed breaks will be in the waist-chest high range on the lower tides. Ventura and the LA South Bay will be a bit more in the chest high+ range thanks to better exposure to the WNW swell. (Santa Barbara is looking smaller than most areas due to the steep angle of the WNW swell and the blockage by the channel islands).

Standout combo surf spots, mostly in San Diego, will have surf in the chest-shoulder high range with some head high sets mixing in on the better tides as well. Orange County will be similar in size but mostly off the SSW swell rather than the WNW/SW combo that San Diego sees so try and pick your spots accordingly.

Weather and winds are looking pretty decent tomorrow...the Santa Ana flow is expected to back down (maybe give the fire teams a break thankfully) but we will still see some light offshore to light and variable winds through the morning. Onshore bump starts to pick up around midday and will eventually top out around 10-15 knots out of the W-NW during the afternoon.

Since we will be seeing a combo swell tomorrow that has some democratic swell angles almost all areas will be able to pick up some waves from either of the SSW/WNW swell directions. I think the tide is going to be a bit of deal-breaker in the morning though which sucks...there may be a few spots that can power through the 6' high tide but I would even plan on those spots being pretty soft. I wish the tide was a little further back in the morning (or we had an earlier sunrise) but I can wish to win the lotto too but it doesn't mean that it is going to happen. Oh well, cross your fingers that we can get past the high tide peak before the wind starts to get too bad.

Tides for Wednesday

03:22AM 1.2' Low
09:27AM 6.3' High (brutal!)
04:26PM -0.6' Low
10:33PM 4.3' High

Tuesday's Surf - picking up a touch but fighting the tide

Tuesday will be another rideable day but again I wouldn't venture to call it an actual surf day. There will be a touch more swell, cleaner conditions, but the tide continues to shaft us through most of the day.

We are going to see another small pulse of SSW energy arrive and overlap with our current SSW'er and mix with the background WNW windswell.

The average spots will continue to run in boggy knee-waist high waves. Standout SSW-SW facing surf breaks, mostly through Orange County and San Diego will be in the waist-chest high range on the sets.

Winds are looking much better tomorrow...mostly light/variable for the whole region with just a couple of small pockets of light-onshore texture here and there. Afternoon winds pick up out of the W around 10-12 knots.

Overall I wish we had more swell with the higher tides that hold throughout the day (crap even the low tide is a 3') but we don't so I should quit whining. The combo of small sizes and swampy tide is going to give plenty of spots some lovely mushy shorebreak shape. If you have to surf plan on hitting a spot that can handle a bit more water. I might hunt around for some mini-waves in the morning (just because I want to ride my new board)...but I am not going to be very motivated about it.


hmmm a little swampy

Tides for Tuesday

06:52AM 3.7' High
11:13AM 3.0' Low
05:03PM 5.3' High

Surf for Thursday – Fading but rideable

Expect mostly small surf on Thursday, while a few of the standouts in San Diego and Ventura are slightly less small.

We will have fading WNW swell (290+) and some background SW swell with a touch of local windswell. Most spots will be in the knee-waist high range. Standouts in the SD and VEN areas will have some chest high+ sets now and then.

We will be muscling through more morning high tides…they aren’t horrible but the lack of swell and the higher water will definitely slow things down in the morning.

Winds and weather look good again…mostly light and variable through the morning with moderate onshore flow through the afternoon…sort of your typical SoCal wind pattern.

Expect mellow surf and shape if you actually paddle out on Thursday. Aiming for a lower tide would be your best call, that (and heading to SD if you felt like driving for waist high+ surf…). Personally I am going to shine it on Thursday…maybe give it a quick check around lunch but I am not going to be holding my breath for anything spectacular. The rest of the day I am going to just sit and dream of the new SW swell hitting warm tropical beaches.