Thursday’s Surf – Playful and slightly less brown

Thursday, even though the surf will be smaller, will be a surf day…once the stupid morning tide drops a bit.

We are going to see a mix of fading WNW-NW swell (280-300) and some building S-SSW swell (180-210). The S-SSW’er isn’t going to be huge…but it will have enough to combo up with the WNW-NW’er at the well exposed beach breaks setting up a few playful peaks as everything mixes together.



Sizewise for the purely WNW-NW spots it is going to feel a lot smaller on Thursday…the combo spots are going to be smaller as well but won’t drop off quite as fast. Look for average WNW facing breaks and the ok combo spots to see surf in the waist-chest high range with some less consistent shoulder high sets. Top WNW breaks and the excellent combo breaks will be more in the chest-shoulder high range…with a few head high peaks coming through at the best breaks. Shape will be a little slow in the morning thanks to the high tide but it will improve as the tide backs down.

Winds look good…mostly light and variable to slightly offshore in the morning…and then a sort of swirly variable texture brewing up in the afternoon, nothing go much over 10-knots. Winds look light enough that we could have a late afternoon clean up, not super glassy, but light enough to smooth things out a bit.



I think that tomorrow will be kind of fun after the tide drops…I think that the swell mix, even though it is losing size, will still be able to put fun waves into both the winter spots and the combo breaks. Water quality is still a bit iffy…it just stopped raining earlier this morning and that last little burst just jumped on the back of the big nasty swill that got pumped out last week. I would still try to avoid rivers, storm-drains, harbors…basically anything that water flows out of...but at least we will have had a day or so for the crap to dilute a bit.

Make sure to check the regional forecasts to see how the swell mix affects the different stretches of coastline.

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…

01/28/2010 Thursday
12:49AM LST 1.8 L
06:57AM LST 6.4 H
02:21PM LST -1.5 L
08:39PM LST 3.9 H

Waves for Wednesday – Slow drop…but still a few fun ones

Wednesday will have some rideable waves but the race between the dropping high tide and the building onshore wind may keep most spots from getting very good.

WNW-NW swell (280-300) will be slowly fading through the day on Wednesday…dropping pretty quickly for spots up through Ventura and Santa Barbara while lingering a little longer down toward San Diego. There will be a slight bump up in S-SSW swell (180-210) that fills in throughout the day…but overall expect most of our waves coming out of the WNW.



Average W-WNW facing spots will be in the chest-shoulder high range with some rare head high sets at spots that like the higher tides. The standout WNW-NW breaks, mostly through the South Bay, South San Diego, and parts of Ventura, will have more consistent shoulder-head high set waves with a few overhead waves still mixing in. Thanks to the morning high tide the shape will be a bit soft and the bigger sets a bit less consistent…there should be some improvement as the tide drops through midmorning.

The forecast models are backing off the winds for Wednesday morning…so, if this latest cold front moves around like it is supposed to, we will likely see some clean conditions for the morning. Look for light and variable winds early on...then sort of moderate onshore bump picking up through midmorning and into the afternoon, eventually topping out 10-15 knots out of the NW.



It is nice to see the onshore bump that was forecast for Wednesday slipping out of the wind model…it lets us get a little more of this WNW swell before it backs down too far. Even though the winds look lighter I am not expecting “great” surf on Wednesday...it will probably just be one of those serviceable swells, rideable but not super exciting. Thanks to that stupid morning high tide you are going to want to stick with spots that can handle the extra water…either that or wait and roll the dice that the tide drops faster than the wind can come onshore.


I think these are loaded...

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…

01/27/2010 Wednesday
06:07AM LST 6.0 H
01:42PM LST -1.2 L
08:07PM LST 3.6 H