Friday’s Surf – S-SSW swell holds with some onshore bump building early

Friday looks surfable for a few regions in the morning…but it looks like onshore flow will pick up early so the surf window won’t be all that big.

The S-SSW swell (180-210) will hold into early Friday and then start a slow drop later in the day. NW windswell will be increasing (along with the wind) so expect wave heights at the combo spots and the NW facing windswell breaks to come up a couple of notches at the end of the day.



The average S facing spots and good combo breaks will be in the waist-chest high range with some rare bigger sets showing at times. The standout S facing breaks and excellent combo spots will be in the chest-shoulder high range with a few head high waves sneaking through on the lower tides.

Earlier today I was actually a little more negative about the wind than I am now…the 12z weather model is showing a little cleaner conditions for the morning…not great, or completely without texture, but clean enough that if you have something to block the wind or knock down the bump (like a structure or cliff or a big patch of kelp) then it should be pretty manageable. Winds will be light/variable to variable onshore for the morning with the cleanest conditions showing around LA and Orange Counties…and a touch more onshore texture for Ventura, Santa Barbara, and the exposed areas of San Diego. 10-15+ W-NW winds return in the afternoon. I would keep an eye on conditions around sundown…the winds are supposed to switch around to offshore for Saturday and we might see some of that bleed over into Friday evening.

Here are all the wind models.









So if winds behave tomorrow it looks like there will be a few playful waves on tap for the morning. Nothing great…but fun enough that it will be worth a cam/buoy/conditions check if you have to drive a ways to the beach, and a quick drive-by check if you are close to the coast. The dawn patrol is probably going to be your best bet…we will be coming off a negative low tide and the winds will be lighter (and the S-SSW swell will be a bit stronger)…so try to hit it early if you can...but not too early because shape is going to be pretty drained out.

Here are the tides…

05/28/2010 Friday
04:37AM LDT -1.2 L (crap!)
11:01AM LDT 3.6 H
03:39PM LDT 2.0 L
09:46PM LDT 6.0 H (swampthing!)