Surf for Thursday – Much cleaner but fading fast

I don’t think I am going to call Thursday a “surf day”…yes it will be rideable, and conditions will be a lot cleaner than Wednesday, but the windswell is going to drop fast and the higher morning tide isn’t going to do us any favors.

Swellwise we are going to see a mix of quickly dropping NW windswell (285-300 with most of the energy around 295-300) and some background SW swell (200-220) crawling in from the Southern Hemisphere.

The average exposed spots…the breaks that have some exposure to the windswell mix…will be in the waist-chest high range through the morning. The standout NW facing spots, mostly the well exposed areas of Ventura, the South Bay, and Southern San Diego, will be in the waist-shoulder high range with still a few plus sets trying to power through the morning high tide. Since the swell is fading, look for the bigger waves to become less and less consistent as we move through into the afternoon.

Winds look much better for tomorrow…the fast moving cold front that spun up the winds for Wednesday is moving out of the area and high-pressure will build in its wake helping to set up some morning offshore winds. All areas can expect N-NE winds in the 5-10 knot range for tomorrow morning. The Santa Barbara, Ventura, and North LA areas may see some stronger gusts near passes and canyons. The winds will turn onshore out of the NW in the afternoon but should stay on the light side…right around 10-12 knots for most areas.

The windswell spots will definitely be the call tomorrow...the more NW exposure they have the better. Unfortunately the windswell doesn’t have a lot of kick to it…so even the top spots, which have some decent size, will be on the soft/rolly side. Your best bet is to find an exposed spot that likes both the shorter swell periods and the higher tides…preferably one that has a nice shallow sandbar for the windswell to throw itself over. Boardwise I personally think that a smaller/thicker board might be a good call…just so you can power through the mushy soft spots that you find in swells like these.

Here are the tides…

12:52AM LDT 1.0 L
07:11AM LDT 4.8 H
01:34PM LDT 1.4 L
07:14PM LDT 4.2 H

I am sure you noticed…but I am making a few changes to the layout of the blog (it is a little bit wider and is has new header!)…let me know what you think about the new set up. Also…now that I have some better ad-placements if any of you are interested in advertising on the site please drop me an email and we can go over the details. – Thanks! AW

Thursday’s Surf – Another surf day…man I love fall

Thursday will be another surf day.

In the morning we are going to see a mix of slowly backing down SW swell (200-220), some steady but slightly smaller WNW-NW energy (285-300), and just a tiny touch of local windswell.

By the afternoon we will have a new, stronger WNW-NW swell (280-300) start to arrive, it will be showing mostly up in the Santa Barbara and Ventura areas, but we may have enough energy leak southward that it starts to pick up at the better WNW facing spots in LA, OC, and San Diego. I am not expecting a big jump in size for those other counties but it might add a little extra pop to the energy already in the water.

I do, however, expect this new WNW-NW swell to fill in more Thursday night and eventually peak on Friday. Check out the CDIP run for the next couple of days…

Thursday Morning



Thursday Afternoon



Friday Morning



Ok for the dawn patrol tomorrow…even though the new swell won’t have filled in yet we will still have plenty of fun energy in the water. The average exposed spots are going to continue to see surf in the waist-chest high range with a few shoulder high sets pushing through on the lower morning tide. The better SW/NW exposed combo spots, and the other top spots that can really focus the NW or the SW swells separately, will be more consistently in the chest-shoulder high range on the average sets and hitting the head high to even a little overhead on the bigger less consistent sets. The combo breaks are going to be a lot more consistent thanks to the mix of swells filling in the gaps.

By the afternoon…no real changes for most of Socal…but the exposed spots in Santa Barbara (mostly Southern Santa Barbara) and Ventura will start to feel the new WNW-NW swell start to arrive. Again it won’t add a ton of size but it will help make things a lot more consistent at the winter spots. I am still expecting the average spots to hold around waist-shoulder high (smaller up in Santa Barbara), while the top breaks in Ventura get more consistently shoulder-head high with more overhead sets trying to push through before dark.

Winds for tomorrow…pretty similar to Wednesday…so light and variable to light offshore in the morning and then only light onshore for the afternoon. Stronger N winds are forecasted for Santa Barbara and Ventura (around the passes and canyons in particular). Overall it looks pretty clean for the first half of the day and only slightly bumpy through the afternoon…sunny and warm most of the day as well.



So for tomorrow…your best bet is to really just get out and get some waves…the swell mix is putting rideable surf all over SoCal…and you can find a little (and sometimes not so little) peak to ride in almost every region. The crowd was definitely showing at my home break this morning, and I expect that it will be the same tomorrow. Personally I am going to head out in the early morning, try to take advantage of the lower tide, and find an empty stretch of beach break to set up shop.

Here are the tides…hope you guys find a few corners as well.

01:05AM LDT 3.4 H
05:02AM LDT 2.8 L
11:24AM LDT 5.3 H
07:26PM LDT 0.5 L