Waves for Wednesday – A few fun ones…before the tide drowns it

Wednesday is looking rideable for most areas and even sort of a Surf Day at the top WNW-NW spots. It won’t be great by any stretch of the imagination…but it won’t be totally flat and the winds look pretty good so at least that is something.

In the water we will have a mix of overlapping WNW swells…a blend of short and long-period energy coming in from around the (285-300) degree range. Small SW swells continue to sneak in through the background. Unfortunately the swell mix doesn’t have a lot of oomph to it and the tide still stays pretty high through most of the day…so plan on sticking to your small wave boards.



Wave heights at the average spots will hold in the ankle-waist high range with a few inconsistent chest high sets showing on the better parts of the tide swing. Top NW facing breaks will be in the waist-chest high range with a few chest high+ sets at times. Shape will continue to be pretty soft, but if you have the right equipment and some shallow sand it is manageable.

Weather will be good again…light offshore to light and variable winds through the morning. Mild-moderate WNW flow around 10-12 knots picks up through late afternoon but won’t totally blow things apart.



Like I said…nothing exciting…just a small, soft WNW mix lapping in under light winds. Bring gear that can handle the mushburgers (and a good attitude) and you will probably have some occasional fun.

Regional Forecasts are back up again…(now with more awesomeness!) 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…

01/06/2010 Wednesday
01:33AM LST 4.8 H
08:01AM LST 1.5 L
01:22PM LST 3.6 H
07:38PM LST 0.9 L

Surf for Friday – Happy New Year’s Swampthing!

Friday will be a surf day…if the winds hold past the high tide that peaks right during the morning session.

In the water we will still have some WNW-NW swell (285-300) holding and some much smaller S-SW pulses sneaking into the combo areas. The morning is going to be really swampy with a 6.5’+ high tide hitting around 8:45am.



Most spots will be in the waist-chest high range with some inconsistent shoulder high sets on the lower tides. The standout NW facing breaks will be in the chest-head high range with some overhead sets coming through on the lower tides. Expect a lot of softies through the morning and then a bit of a drain on the sets and the surf shape as the nearly 7’ high tide drops to a negative 1.5-1.7’ low. With luck the mix of swells will be able to set up at least a few hour window between the two extremes.

Weather looks good tomorrow…mostly light winds and clear skies (with some patchy fog). Look for mostly light and variable to light offshore winds through the morning. NW winds around 10-15 knots move in through the afternoon but may try to lay down later in the evening.



Since most of us have a holiday tomorrow you should have a little more flexibility to work around the tide…if your spot has some wind protection I would definitely wait for less water. I took the morning drive here on Thursday and that morning tide buried it almost everywhere.

Have a good one…and a happy new year!

Here are the tides…

01/01/2010 Friday
02:31AM LST 1.8 L
08:37AM LST 6.8 H swampy
04:00PM LST -1.6 L drainy
10:23PM LST 4.0 H

Surf for Friday – Friday Funtime

Friday will be a surf day.

Sorry the forecast is lagging. I played a little hooky today and went looking for some surf a little further afield than I usually go…it is definitely nice to surf a point break (or 3) when I am usually locked into the local beach break. Unfortunately I paid for my session by being stuck in traffic hell on the freeway ride home. I will share a few of the photos I snapped in a bit. Anyway, back to Friday.

Friday our mix of WNW energy (275-300 but mostly 285-300) will continue through the day…holding similar or slightly smaller surf at the exposed breaks. Small SSW swell (190-210) will hold in the background. Check this out…this is the “nowcast” from CDIP…so it is showing the current swell mix that we are seeing here on Thursday night.



And this is the same chart but showing the Peak Direction…it is kind of a cool way to look at the swell, though it is telling us a lot of what we already saw in the swell-height image. Looking at this you can see where the W-WNW swell is having some shadowing/energy issues, which is causing the SSW swell to be more dominant. Keep in mind that this is the “peak” direction…not the only swell direction in the mix, so just because the are showing more southerly directions in those areas doesn’t mean that you should ignore the W-WNW swell in the water.



Just thought I would share…got to love the big brains over at CDIP. Here is the forecast for tomorrow morning.



Surfwise the average W-WNW facing spots as well as the OK combo spots will continue to hold in the chest high range with some shoulder high sets pushing through on the manageable parts of the tide swing. The top WNW-NW facing spots will have consistent shoulder-head high surf with some overhead and overhead+ sets still showing inconsistently at times.

Winds will be good on Friday…mostly variable to NE in the morning (so light to light/moderate offshore for many spots and freaking chilly early in the AM). Look for variable onshore winds around midday and watch for another shot at cleaning up conditions as the sun sets in the evening.



Expect for the tide being a bit high I think the surf looks fun tomorrow. Points and Reefs are definitely going to have the best shape…but now that the SSW swell has strengthened a touch it may get a little more peaky at a few of the combo beach breaks, so don’t rule those areas completely out (I would check the points/reefs first though). The high tide peak is getting a little further back from the dawn patrol hours, but it is still sort of awkward…I think your best bet will be to pick spots that can handle more water so you can surf longer…well that or wait till the tide drops in the afternoon and risk the wind picking up too much.

Here are the tides…one more day till Christmas vacation!

12/18/2009 Friday
03:05AM LST 2.4 L
09:10AM LST 5.7 H
04:45PM LST -0.5 L
11:19PM LST 3.6 H