Waves for Wednesday – small and clean

Wednesday is going to be a surf day...but the new SSW swell still won’t be here yet...so the sizes will continue to be on the small side.

We are going to have a mix of overlapping SW swells and some local WNW windswell. It will look a lot like Tuesday’s surf...maybe even a touch smaller.



Wave heights, on average, are going to hold around waist high for most spots. The better combo breaks and the well exposed SW facing spots will be around waist-chest high. A few of the best standouts, in areas like South OC and North SD, will have some inconsistent chest high+ sets on the tide push in the morning.



Winds look good...light and variable for the morning (maybe a bit of fog here and there). WNW winds 10-12 knots will push through in the afternoon. Afternoon winds may even be light enough that spots with something to block or knock down the wind, like high cliffs or kelp, will be clean enough to have a decent afternoon session.

While it will be clean and rideable on Wednesday it won’t be worth driving around a lot to look for surf. The waves will be pretty similar all over SoCal (for the most part) and the summer beach craziness is in full swing, which means crowds, blackball, crowds, US Open, bikinis (not really a bad thing), and the other nonsense. Not that I really blame anyone, have you seen how freaking hot it is inland?



Anyway, your best bet will be to find a little peak, or stretch of beach, that is sort of empty and try to get on it early with the low tide, before the madness sets in. Bring your summer small-wave board, and a thin suit/vest...the water is getting pretty nice in a lot of areas. (HB was at least 65-degrees today).

Also the CDIP 3-day forecast is starting to pick up that bigger swell for the end of the week. Check out the sideways forecast...I can hardly wait for my local beach break to turn into one long walled mess. Good times.



Here are the tides...if you live in the IE try not to catch on fire tomorrow.

04:25AM LDT -1.5 L
10:43AM LDT 4.3 H
03:51PM LDT 1.5 L
09:53PM LDT 6.8 H

Surf for Tuesday – I feel the excitement is gone

Tuesday will be semi-rideable on the lower tides but overall it isn’t going to be a surf day.

Really what we are dealing with here is lack of swell...the weather and the winds are ok...we just don’t have waves to go along with it.

Currently we have a small, not very consistent, S-SW swell mix (180-210+220) from a couple of different sources in the SPAC. We also have some small NW windswell leaking in from the outer waters. The swell mix is barely breaking the 1.5-2’ range on the local buoys with most of the energy in the lower periods (which is never a good sign). Check out the CDIP...that is a lot of boring blue.



On Tuesday the average spots can expect surf to run in the knee-waist high range on the bigger sets. The better exposed SW-WNW facing combo spots will have some inconsistent chest high sets. Expect long waits between waves and soft shape as the tide fills in (and we get some afternoon wind bump).

Winds will be ok...light and variable in the morning. Afternoon winds come onshore around 10-12 knots for most areas.

Small wave gear is definitely the way to go on Tuesday...you might be able to get away with a smaller fishy shape at the top spots (on the lower tides and a good sandbar)...but you are going to be generating a lot of your own speed so longboards might be more fun for bigger surfers (like myself). I definitely wouldn’t spend a lot time looking for waves...just hop on the first spot that looks sort of fun...there won’t be much else out there.

Here are the tides...

12:36AM LDT 1.6 L
05:59AM LDT 3.4 H
12:01PM LDT 1.1 L
06:30PM LDT 4.7 H

Friday’s Surf – a few tiny waves

Friday won’t be what I would call a surf day...but the weather/winds will continue to be nice and this little tiny Southern Hemi swell and background WNW combo will manage to sneak a few semi-rideable waves into the top spots.

Personally I didn’t manage a surf today but I was keeping an eye on the beach...and I saw a few waist high sets sneaking through some of the top North OC spots...which is a little bigger than I thought it would be on Thursday. It wasn’t great or anything but I have to admit the strong offshores made it look a lot more appealing than it would have otherwise. The winds didn’t hold up everywhere...a few other regions looked a bit fugly later in the afternoon.

Anyway onto Friday...it looks like the little SW/WNW swell mix will continue to sort of limp through. It won’t be big, it won’t have much behind it, but if you have the right equipment (and the right attitude) you will probably be able catch a soft section here and there.



The average spots will be right around knee high on Friday. Top combo spots, mostly through San Diego/Orange County, will have some very inconsistent knee-waist high sets.

Winds will be offshore again in the morning...mostly in the 10-15 knot range but with some stronger gusts in the North LA/Ventura areas. Winds get variable to variable onshore by the afternoon (there will be some cleaner pockets near passes and canyons).

I am thinking that longboards will be the best call tomorrow...but you might (if you weigh like 130lbs) be able to get away with a fishier shape...just plan on using the super small wave gear. Top combo breaks, mostly the beach breaks, will have the better shape...but a few of the points/reefs might be ok on the lower tides. Just plan on it being small, sunny, a bit windy, (with ‘nad-freezing water), and you won’t be disappointed.

Here are the tides for tomorrow...

05:11AM LST 1.5 L
10:47AM LST 4.1 H
05:22PM LST 0.5 L
11:49PM LST 4.4 H

Tuesday's Surf - Smaller but cleaner

Tuesday isn't going to be much of a surf day but there may be a couple of rideable pockets in the morning.

Our swell mix will be fading and the tides will still be pretty high throughout the day which is going to hurt shape even more. Our mix of SW swell that peaked over the weekend will continue to fade on Tuesday as well as our background WNW windswell.

Average spots will see inconsistent surf in the waist high range with a few waist high+ sets at the average combo spots.

Standouts, and I use the term loosely, will be more in the waist-chest high range with a few sets that near shoulder high on the right tides.

Winds will finally start to improve on Tuesday and we should see mostly light and variable conditions through the morning with even a few areas of light offshore flow. Check out the NRL COAMPS model...this is for tomorrow morning at 5am.



You can see some light offshore flow for a few areas tomorrow..and some sort of funky variable stuff around South OC/North SD. I would probably use this wind forecast with a grain of salt and plan on mostly light winds for the whole SoCal region then if it is actually cleaner than that it is a bonus.

I wish that we had a bit more swell tomorrow, or at least enough to break through the higher morning tide. Fortunately the high tide peak is now around 10am, which should give us a slightly larger dawn patrol window. Look for the biggest waves in the OC/SD areas with southerly exposure. It won't be worth spending any sort of time on the road to surf on Tuesday but if you need to get a surf in try and get it early in the morning...it will be better than watching the stockbrokers randomly jumping out of windows as the market continues to crash.

Tides for Tuesday

03:53AM 1.1' Low
09:57AM 5.7' High
04:41PM 0.2' Low
10:40PM 4.3' High