Surf for Thursday – Morning offshores

Thursday is looking good condition-wise…but the surf is going to be a bit on the soft/small side, which may prevent from becoming a real surf day.

In the water we are going to see a mix of S-SW swells (190-210) and WNW windswell…neither of which are going to be very big. I was calling for a little more size in the long-range forecast that I posted on Monday…but the NW’er that was expected to show earlier this week was not able to wrap much energy into Socal, which means that I am cutting wave heights for tomorrow. Still with the mix that will show we should be able to find a few rideable ones.



So for Thursday look for the average spots to pull in fairly consistent knee-waist high waves. The standout S-SW facing breaks, particularly those that like to combo in the windswell, will be a more consistent waist-chest high on the sets, with a few bigger shoulder high sets mixing in on the lower tides. Look for the biggest waves showing through San Diego, a few select areas in Orange County, and Southern Ventura.

Winds for Thursday look good…this funk that has been bothering us the last couple of days is expected to move on out tonight and in the process it will pull winds around to the NE. So for tomorrow morning we can expect E-NE winds around 10 knots at most spots but with some 10-15+ knot gusts coming through the passes and canyons near the beach. Overall it will be sort of a mild Santa Ana (Santana) wind in the morning…but it won’t really be able to establish itself along the coast so we will have a definite onshore switch that will arrive around midday. Expect the afternoon winds to blow out of the NW around 10-15+ knots.



I think that we will be able to have some fun tomorrow, particularly since the morning offshore flow will make our small surf seem a bit more playful. I think that the combo beach breaks will be the best call tomorrow…mostly because the windswell will help to fill in the inconsistency of the S-SW swell. I would plan on bringing your fishy shapes or small-wave gear so that you can squeeze a little more fun out of the swell mix. While the tides aren’t ideal for the morning you will want to surf early rather than wait…if you stall out too long the winds will shift onshore and you will have missed the window.

Here are the tides

02:15AM LDT 0.5 L
08:22AM LDT 4.8 H
02:24PM LDT 1.2 L
08:14PM LDT 5.0 H

Tuesday’s Surf – Practice swell

Tuesday will be a surf day.

We will have a decent mix of SW swell (190-210) and some local windswell on Tuesday that work to put some playful surf into the exposed beaches. It won’t be great, or that consistent, but the mix of light winds and rideable waves will be a good reason to get in the water.



Wave heights are going to be around the waist-chest high range at most of the exposed spots...a little inconsistent at times but fun when it shows. The standout SW facing spots, mostly through South OC, North Los Angeles County, and Northern San Diego, will be in the chest-shoulder high range on the sets...again expect a little bit of a wait between sets.



Winds look good with light and variable conditions through morning. There may be a few pockets of fog texture as the big fog bank rolls in and out at times. WNW winds 10-12+14 knots will move in through the afternoon.

Basically it will be a pretty average surf day...small cross ups on the combo spots and a few decent little waves at the points/reefs...the surf will be pretty similar at most of the exposed areas so it won’t be worth driving around a ton. I would probably stick to your small-wave gear, fishy shapes or thicker boards, to get a little more out of the in-between sets. It will be a good day to get in the water shake the dust off before the bigger swell later this week (also a good time to scope out the sand bars to see what might work the best).

Here are the tides...watch that low-tide in the early morning.

03:44AM LDT -1.5 L
10:05AM LDT 4.0 H
02:58PM LDT 1.8 L
09:05PM LDT 7.0 H

Thursday’s Surf – A little bigger but still fugly

So the surf will come up slowly throughout the day on Thursday...but local winds and the tides will conspire against us having a surf day.

Our swell will be a mix of slowly building and overlapping SW swells (200-220) and increasing local WNW windswell.



Wave heights are going to be in the waist high range at most of the average spots. The better S-SW facing spots will be more in the waist-chest high range on inconsistent sets. The standout SW facing spots and the best combo breaks will have some inconsistent shoulder high sets. It is going to be fairly inconsistent tomorrow...so expect some longer waits between waves.



The wind looks like it is going to mess with us tomorrow. Forecast models are calling for mostly light winds in the morning...but with a steady westerly onshore tint to them. Likely we are going to have light/variable winds along the coast but with that fugly sickness/bump to the ocean thanks to the stronger winds further off the coast. The real onshores will pick up early and should come in out of the W-WNW around 10-12 knots by the afternoon.

Overall I am not expecting much out of the surf tomorrow...yeah it will be bigger, particularly at the SW facing spots by the afternoon, but the winds and tides are going to jack up most of our shape/conditions. Your best bet, if you have to surf, would be to get on it early and try to capitalize on the lower tides (the tide doesn’t get very low on Thursday though) and lighter morning winds...the swell won’t be doing all the well in the morning but it should be better than the shapeless high-tide crumblers that will be on tap for the afternoon.

Here are the tides...

05:22AM LDT 2.6 H
09:26AM LDT 2.2 L
04:38PM LDT 5.2 H

Tuesday’s Surf – Surfing anyone?

Tuesday is looking like a surf day.

We are going to have a mix of S-SW swells (180-210) and some increasing WNW windswell. Both the southern hemi swells and the local windswell will be punchy enough that if you only have a spot open to one of the directions there should still be enough energy to catch a few waves on the lower tides.



Average spots will have waves in the waist-chest high range. The better S facing spots, and ok combo breaks, will be around chest-shoulder high on the sets. Standout S-SW facing spots, and the excellent combo spots (mostly through Orange County and San Diego) will have chest-head high sets.

Winds will be decent as well...mostly light and variable through the morning and WNW around 10-12 knots for the afternoon.



I managed to get a session in on Monday (now that some of the holiday weekend chaos subsided)...the local beach break had a lot of chest high sets and even a few dumpy combo peaks rolling through as the tide filled in.

Tuesday is going to be pretty similar...I think that your best bet is going to be at the combo swell beach breaks, particularly spots that can handle a little more tide (it will make your session last a bit longer). If you can I would try and hit it early, right after the tide bottoms out. Points and reefs will be a good backup as well...though they might be a little broken up if they have a little too much WNW exposure. Plan on bringing your wetsuit...the water is still pretty chilly most spots.

Here are the tides...

04:35AM LDT -0.6 L
11:01AM LDT 3.6 H
03:33PM LDT 2.3 L
09:37PM LDT 5.8 H

Waves for the Weekend – Fading but cleaner

Looks like we could have some rideable waves this weekend…not great by any means but at least rideable with halfway decent weather.

Surfwise we are going to see some quickly dropping WNW windswell leftover from that latest storm. It will be biggest on Saturday and drop pretty fast into Sunday. There will also be some minor background swells from both the WNW and the SSW…but other than showing some energy on the buoys they aren’t going to amount to much surfwise. Check out the CDIP forecast…don’t be fooled by the wave height spectrum though…I think we are going to be hard pressed to find surf over chest high in most areas.



Wave heights on Saturday will be in the waist-chest high range for most W facing beaches. Standouts in San Diego, Ventura, and the South Bay will be around shoulder high…maybe shoulder high+ early on Saturday. Size and consistency are going to fade pretty fast so by Sunday it looks like a lot of spots drop to about knee-waist high and even the top breaks are going to be around chest high on the sets.

Weather looks good for both days…mostly light and variable to light offshore in the mornings and light to moderate NW winds 10-12 knots moving in through the afternoons. Mostly sunny skies for a change as well.

Like I said it isn’t going to be great…but if you have been jonesing and just can’t wait for the water to get a bit cleaner then you will be able to ride some waves over the weekend. Probably since a bunch of you got new boards you should paddle out just to break the new board curse and let us get back to some real surfboard riding. Keep an eye on the tides too…it looks like there will be some pretty high ones in the mornings that could keep things on the slow side. Personally I don’t feel like freezing my ‘nads off…I think I might see if I can beat my bowling record on my new Wii!

Here are the tides….

Saturday
02:01AM LST 2.4 L
08:09AM LST 5.8 H
03:44PM LST -0.7 L
10:14PM LST 3.5 H

Sunday
02:34AM LST 2.4 L
08:41AM LST 5.8 H
04:15PM LST -0.7 L
10:45PM LST 3.5 H

Hope you guys had a good holiday! Have a good weekend.

Monday’s Surf – 6-foot burrito hangover

Monday looks surfable…I don’t know that I would call it a “Surf Day” but there will be lots of WNW energy out in the water for the exposed breaks and some of the more protected spots will have some cleaner conditions trying to sneak in through the morning.

Swellwise we are going to have a mix of WNW-NW energy (both medium and short-period swell from 280-300+) and some background S-SW swell.



Most spots with some exposure to the WNW’ers will have surf in the waist-shoulder high range. The standout WNW facing breaks in Ventura, the South Bay, and San Diego in particular will have consistent head high and overhead sets with some bigger waves sneaking through.

Winds and conditions are what I like to call fragile…there will be lighter winds in the morning but the general onshore flow will continue in the waters just of the coast. Winds along the beach get a bit fluky and we can see some periods of cleanliness that fall apart pretty quick by midmorning. Afternoon winds will build out of the NW around 10-15+ knots.

Surf Shape, increasing winds, and butt-ass cold water temps are the three biggest issues I have with our surf tomorrow. The windswell, particularly the nasty mess we had on Sunday, doesn’t do a great job generating rideable waves for most spots, there are a few breaks (most beach breaks) that do ok but the points/reefs don’t handle the swell that well. Add in that the wind is likely to get right back on the horse early tomorrow and that the same wind just dropped water temps a trillion degrees with all the upwelling and you have a recipe for being unmotivated…but hey that is just me and I am still a little hungover from my B-day and the total destruction of the 6-foot burrito.


just to give it perspective... that is the bed of a full size toyota tundra

As you can imagine giant burrito = awesome!

Here are the tides

12:05AM LST 1.1’ Low
06:19AM LST 5.7’ High
01:10PM LST 0.2’ Low
07:06PM LST 4.2’ High

Wednesday's Surf - And the winner is...

Yeah Right :) (this is the last place you should be getting your election coverage.)

Wednesday is going to be a surf day...conditions will be cleaner and there will be a fun swell mix in the water...about the only thing that is still an issue is the water quality. The water was looking an awful poo brown today (not the most scientific method)...and it usually takes 2-3 days for the bacteria to back off. You can always check out the Heal The Bay website for some of the beach grades. www.healthebay.org

Surfwise we are going to have a mix of slowly fading steeper WNW windswell (285-300) and some playful sized SSW swell (190-205) that is holding under the more dominant WNW energy. Here is the CDIP for this afternoon...expect a little less WNW energy and a little more SSW tomorrow.



Wave heights for most areas will be in the waist-chest high range...Santa Barbara will be a touch smaller as the WNW energy gradually turns more NW. The better combo spots will be in the waist-shoulder high range.

Standout W-facing beaches and top combo spots in San Diego will have some shoulder-head high faces...probably even some bigger sets at the best breaks in the morning.

Winds are looking better for Wednesday...mostly light and variable to light/moderate offshore near passes and canyons in the northern counties. Check out the NWS map for Wednesday morning.



Afternoon winds pick up out of the NW around 10-12 knots.

While I am still not all that stoked on the water quality I think that there will be some fun waves tomorrow. I might wrap myself in some sort of saran-wrap and a bondage mask and see if I can catch a few...but I am still going to avoid the storm-drains and river-mouths if I can. If you are looking for bigger waves Ventura, The South Bay will be decent calls...San Diego is going to be by far the biggest surfwise since it is more exposed to the WNW-NW energy. It probably won't be worth driving down there but if you are in the area I would at least plan a camera check in the morning.

Here are the tides (LST stands for Local Standard Time in case you were wondering)

04:52AM LST 3.6' High
08:16AM LST 3.5' Low
01:22PM LST 4.0' High
09:37PM LST 0.8' Low

Tuesday's Surf - Fun in the right spots

Tuesday looks a bit more surfable than Monday...I would even venture to call it a surf day since conditions are going to cooperate a little more.

I was probably a little hard on Monday's surf in yesterday's forecast...I was checking the surf at lunch today and saw a few fun peaks spread around the beach breaks. It wasn't firing but it was a bit better than I was expecting by that time of the day. I spent a few extra minutes going "where is my freaking wind dammit!?!".

Anyway Tuesday the swell mix will continue...the SW'er (200-220) will be a little more southerly and the local windswell will be a touch bigger.

Most spots will continue to see surf in the waist high range. Better exposed breaks will be in the waist-chest high range while the top breaks, mostly in San Diego and South OC, see some chest-shoulder high sets on the lower tides.
Winds look nice and light through the morning...light and variable for most spots with a couple of pockets of texture at the more open beaches. NW winds come onshore around 10 knots for the afternoon.

It won't be worth driving around a ton tomorrow...I would probably try and find waves close to home since there isn't a ton of size hitting anywhere. The combo spots will probably be the most fun...nice little crossed up peaks if you can pull in the swell mix. The points/reefs with SW exposure will be fun as well but make be a bit less consistent.

Here are the tides for Tuesday

05:23AM 3.8' High
09:38AM 3.2' Low
03:19PM 4.9' High
11:08PM 0.1' Low

Tuesday's Surf - Holding Pattern

Tuesday will be another borderline surf day...it will be rideable but will suffer under the tide swing and inconsistency of the SSW swell.

In the water we will have a mix of SSW swell (190-210) and some local WNW windswell. The SSW'er will actually have a little more energy than Monday as well as a slightly more southerly direction than it originally started at...so I expect a few more sets showing in more areas than it did on Monday.

On average the S exposed spots will be in the knee-waist high+ range with a few rare chest high sets sneaking through on the morning tide push.

Standout S facing surf breaks and the good combo spots, mostly through Orange County and the San Diego summer surf spots, will see waves in the waist-chest high range with some inconsistent shoulder high sets slipping through at times.

Personally, with the low tide hitting right around 6:30-7am I would try and get to the beach around that time...it may be a little drained out to start but the building tide should help the swell consistency and size for the first hour or so. I think that the combo beach breaks will be the most fun shapewise...but the points and reefs should be playful as well (as long as you don't mind the ankle-breaker water depths). Look for the biggest size in the OC and SD areas...but don't drive very far to surf there if you can help it...I don't think the swell is really worth wasting a bunch of gas.

Thursday's Surf - see I told you...less earthquakes

Actually the S swell showed up as well on Wednesday...as well as us having less earthquakes...which I sort of consider a win-win for everyone.

Thursday will be another surf day and hopefully earthquake free as well...(ok that was the last earthquake reference).

The S swell that we had roll in today will continue into Thursday and mix with some SW pulses as well as a bit of WNW energy. Most spots will see surf in the waist-chest high range with some shoulder high sets at breaks that get some of the S swell.

Standout S facing surf spots, mostly in Orange County, will have surf in the chest-shoulder high range with some head high and head high+ sets sneaking through on the lower tides.

Winds look good through the morning again...still some chance at a bit of weak eddy circulation at times...but mostly clean, maybe some slight onshore texture showing through SD and parts of OC. Expect onshore afternoon winds out of the W-NW around 10-15 knots.

Looks like OC, some parts of North LA, and the very southern areas of Ventura County, will be doing the best on this swell...here is a great graphic showing the southerly swell shadows/windows. You can really see the green/light-green load up on North OC, which (*tah-dah*) is generally the most exposed to this swell direction.




It is also worth checking out how South San Diego gets sort of hosed by the swell refraction...a lot of energy that should show through that area is pulled into Northern Baja.

Anyway this is a pretty decent swell...not worth taking work off for or anything...but definitely worth checking your local S facing standouts. Look for the biggest waves through the OC area...but playful sizes in the other exposed areas. The morning will be the cleanest but you are going to need to work around the tidal swing...the higher tides have been steamrolling the shape...so try and plan around both the tides and the wind if you can.

Surf for the weekend – Tropical swell, S swell, and windswell…yea for waves!

The tropical SE swell from Elida finally started to fill in a bit more on Friday…I actually caught a few waves in Newport throughout the day…surfed about 10:30 and there were some shoulder high sets…by 2:30pm there were a few shoulder-head high sets through the river jetties…maybe a few bigger ones. Shape wasn’t that great, it was lined up and closing out on most of them, with crumbly texture as well. The water was nice and warm though so it was definitely better than sitting at a desk. Not sure if the swell made it into any other beaches at this point…so if you saw some waves in the other counties drop me an email or a comment. Here is a shot of the Dana Point Buoy…check out the 10-second energy.



Anyway on to the weekend.

We are going to have plenty of surf this weekend…both Saturday and Sunday will be surf days.

We are going to see a mix of building S swell (170-190), SE tropical swell from Elida (which may die out by Saturday evening), and the persistent background NW windswell.

Saturday will start slow overall except for areas that have some tropical swell showing already.

As the new S swell fills in through the day and into the afternoon most breaks without S exposure will be in the waist-high range. Spots with exposure to the S swell will be in the chest-shoulder high range. Good S facing beaches will be in the shoulder-head high+ range, while the standout breaks, mostly in Orange County and parts of Northern San Diego, see head-high to overhead+ surf with sets going a could of feet overhead at times as the swell starts to peak later Saturday evening and into Sunday. (I would expect a lot of this swell to hold into Monday as well).

Winds are forecast to be light through the mornings and only moderate for the afternoons. If it follows a similar pattern to the last couple of days we have even seen some clean-up in shape late in the day as we head toward dusk.

This swell will be worth driving around for…and you may have to hunt around to find some decent shape. Right now it looks like we are going to see a lot of walled up beach breaks in the top areas as well as a lot of S-to-N current to fight with. I think the best shape will be at the points and reefs that pick up the S swell…it will hold the waves better and will be less of a constant paddle. If you have to surf the beach break look for jetty, pier, rock, or really big-ass sandbar to help break it up.

Have fun this weekend...I will probably be posting some sort of update so check back if you get some computer time.