Monday’s Surf – Still surfable…but the winds are getting their funk on again

Monday looks rideable…even surfable if you are in the right place…but unstable morning winds, a high morning tide are going to hamper conditions for some spots.

In the water we are going to have a mix of slowly fading S-SSW swell (180-200) and increasing NW windswell.



Average S facing spots will be in the waist-chest high range with a few shoulder high sets at breaks with a little more combo exposure. The standout SSW-SW spots, mostly South OC and North SD, will be in the chest-shoulder high surf with some head high sets mixing in on the better part of the tide push.

Winds are where we run into issues…it doesn’t look totally blown out in the morning but there are a few pockets of onshore texture that are going to creep into the more exposed breaks. Expect variable/onshore texture, below 2-4 knots, for most spots with some stronger WNW-NW flow around 5-8 knots for Ventura and Southern San Diego. W winds around 10-15 knots will be on tap by the afternoon…with some stronger gusts at the real wind-prone spots.





Here check out the weather/wind forecasts for a few of the popular spots in Socal…you can see that there is a big difference in wind speeds as you move from region to region. Quick Note if you click this part of the wind forecast on each of these spot pages, you can see the forecasted winds for the next 7-days…a great planning tool if you only have small windows to surf.



Here are those spots…

Sands-at-coal-oil-point
C-street
Malibu
El Porto
Huntington Beach Pier
Salt Creek
T-street
Trestles
Swamis
Blacks
Imperial Beach

It looks like you are going to want to be on things pretty early…the tides and the onshore wind come on fast…so if you miss the first couple hours of daylight conditions are going to be a bit more frustrating. Oh it won’t be worth writing it totally off once the winds get going, you are just going to have to be a bit more selective in order to find cleaner breaks. Biggest waves will continue to show at the S-SW facing spots…expect smaller surf at spots that have some issues with shadowing from the nearshore islands.

Surf for Thursday - Revenge of the Fuglies

Thursday is not looking like much of a surf day.

We are going to see a mix of mostly leftover Southern Hemi S-SW swells (180-225) and some background NW windswell. The wind is what really looks funky…the various wind models are all over the place with the COAMPS calling for some rather strong looking onshores for the morning and the NWS/NOAA coming with lighter/more manageable winds. I have a feeling that it is going to vary a lot spot to spot…but just keep it in your mind that conditions can and will go funky in most areas as we move through the first few hours of the day.



Get the full forecast at http://www.solspot.com/

Here is the link...

Full Southern California Forecast

Surf for Tuesday – More Eddy lameness

Tuesday doesn’t look very surfable…most areas are going to have to deal with a mix of onshore texture from the eddy and a small, inconsistent S-SW swells and generally those things don’t work together very well. Get the full forecast over at www.solspot.com

Tuesday's Full Forecast

Thursday’s Surf – Weak but rideable swell blend

Thursday will be surfable…but like the last couple of days you won’t be dealing with a ton of swell…just a combo of soft/weak S-SW swells and local NW energy.

In the water we are going to have a mix of S and SW swells (spread all over 180-220) as well as some background NW windswell…again nothing all that exciting, but still sometimes fun if your spot can combo the swells up properly.



Get the full forecast on www.solspot.com

http://surf.solspot.com/content/short-range-forecast/adam-wright/weak-but-rideable-swell-blend-hits-on-thursday

and you can even see what parts of the East Coast Hurricane Earl is deciding to destroy.



http://surf.solspot.com/content/featured/adam-wright/hurricane-warning-issued-for-category-4-hurricane-earl-as-he-approaches-the-east-coast

Waves for Wednesday - Small and Clean with a few nuggets still hiding out there

Waves for Wednesday - Small and Clean with a few nuggets still hiding out there

Wednesday will be a surf day…not a great surf day, not a big surf day…just sort of slow and fun, with sunny skies, and clean morning conditions.



Our swell will be a mix of overlapping S through SW swells (180-220) from a few small storms in the South Pacific. I am even seeing some long-period SW energy (220) on a few of the buoys from a storm way over by New Zealand that probably got chewed up passing through the SPAC island shadow. In the background there will also be a touch of local NW windswell that will keep the NW spots from going flat and a few bigger waves showing at the combo spots.

Get the sizes and weather over at the solspot.com site...you can also see how Hurricane Earl is going to try and mow down the Outer Banks.

here is the link straight into the forecast if you are feeling really lazy...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/small-and-clean-with-a-few-nuggets-still-hiding-out-there

but make sure to check out a bit more of the new site. We are working on revisions right now, and all of your feedback is super important...help us make you the most bitchen forecast site for the interweb!

Surf for Monday – Early Morning Session

Monday looks surfable and fun for the morning…onshore winds push onshore around 9-10am…so you are going to want to surf early.



In the water we will have a mix of overlapping S-SW swells leftover from the weekend…and some new S swell (175-185). NW windswell holds in the background…but still won’t be generating a ton of surf.

Make sure to check Solspot.com for the full forecast...

http://surf.solspot.com/content/solspot/adam-wright/surf-for-monday-%E2%80%93-early-morning-session

Surf for Thursday – A little bigger

Thursday will be rideable…maybe even sort of fun/surfable if you can hit a SW facing spots early enough in the morning, before the tide tries to kill it.

In the water we are going to have a mix of the seeming never-ending S-SW blend (180-220 that is always there but never big enough to do much from keeping it flat). However there will be a stronger SW swell (200-220) moving in throughout the day, likely peaking in the afternoon, while it mixes with the S-SW leftovers and weak local windswell.



Remember gang...these are just teasers (think of it as the strip-clubs of surf forecast sites!). Make sure to check www.solspot.com for the complete forecasts.

Waves for Wednesday - Get on it early

Wednesday is looking surfable but a combo of a windswell and building leftover S swell might be a good call in the low tide sand.

Swellwise there will be a couple of new S and SW swells trying to filter into Socal. The surf will be about the same sizewise but the swell will be a little more consistent and a have a little more pizazz (you have to say it with Jazz Hands) than what we had on Tuesday



Get wave heights and weather from the new www.solspot.com \website...

Monday’s Surf – more waiting around but with a few sneaky fun ones lurking around

Personally I don’t think Monday will be much of a surf day…I like a little more juice and consistency to my swell mix...but that is more personal preference than anything. If you don’t mind riding the small-wave boards of mind talking a little story in the line-up between sets then Monday won’t be a total right off.

There will plenty of different swells in the water but non that really standout. There will the small but seemingly ever-present S-SW swell mix from the Southern hemi, there will be a touch of local windswell and the forecast models are calling for a little tropical style energy…but I think they have been hitting the booze a little hard this weekend.



Make sure to head over to www.socalsurf.com for the full forecast, all the forecast details, as well as the automated swell data from WavewatchIII.

Thursday's Surf - Still a few little ones but mostly summer smallness continues

Thursday will be semi-surfable…if you have a good S facing spot, get it early enough to avoid the high tide, and bring a big board.



Our surf will be a mix of small, overlapping, S-SW swells (180-220) from a couple of barely stormy storms that tip-toed through the South Pacific. There will also be some windswell in the water, but it might also just be from a boat passing by…since it will have about the same effect.

Of course this is just a teaser…make sure to get the full forecast over on the new site www.solspot.com (it is pretty easy to find on the homepage).


Oh and check out Chuck Patterson getting circled by Great Whites down by San Onofre…I think the line for getting into the Old Man’s Parking lot will be a lot shorter this weekend.

http://surf.solspot.com/content/surf-articles/cso/great-white-shark-off-san-onofre

Waves for Wednesday – Someone needs to push the reset button…the disk seems to be stuck

Wednesday looks semi-surfable…but there isn’t a lot of swell in the water…so expect to ride a big board and sit around a lot waiting for weak waves.

Our swell mix is a blend of S-SW swells (180-220) and weak local windswell. Most of it barely rideable if it was by itself…but it has just enough energy that when the swell mixes we get a semi-rideable little line.



Make sure to read the rest of the forecast at www.solspot.com (you are going to have to navigate to it yourself this time…I bet you can find it pretty easy).

Surf for Monday – A few playful ones on the fading S-SW mix

Monday will be surfable, but there will be a touch of eddy, the S-SW swell mix will be slowly fading, and the tides will be a bit high…all of which may keep it from being too much fun.

In the water we will have a mix of fading S-SW swell (190-210), some small local windswell (mostly in the afternoon), and some weak Southern Hemi leftovers.



Sorry to do this to you guys...but until we get the full switchover to the site you will have to click through to the new http://www.solspot.com/ for the full forecast…

Waves for the Weekend – Reinforcement of SW swell but not a ton of waves

It will be surfable this weekend…but nothing special overall, unless you get lucky with the right break, tide, and wind (like winning a surf lotto!)

For the weekend we are going to see a mix of SW swell, some leftover S-SW swell, and some weak local NW windswell. The SW swell (200-220) actually filled in a touch later on Friday and will hold overnight into Saturday before slowly dropping on Sunday (and turning more southerly as we move through the weekend).





Sizewise it is going to be pretty much the same all weekend…most SSW-SW spots will be around the knee-waist with a few rare chest high sets sneaking into the spots that like the tide with a little more junk in the trunk. Top SW spots, mostly in South OC and parts of North SD, will be more in the waist-chest high range with some shoulder high sets mixing it in. I suppose there might be a few bigger sets on the lower tides, particularly at the focal spots, but don’t expect to see a lot of them.

Winds look ok...mostly light and variable in the morning with a few areas of light onshore texture at really wind sensitive spots. There won’t be much bump even at the most exposed spots…but there might be a bit of crumble…so don’t expect total cleanliness. Most areas will have some W winds around 10-15 knots picking up through the afternoon…but expect a little lighter onshore bump at the spots with some protection.

Saturday Wind


Sunday Wind


I am not super excited about the weekend surf...the swell mix is small and sort of inconsistent, but it will have some waves showing at the well exposed spots...and a few of the spots can be pretty damn playful if things come together just right. Unfortunately this is the US OPEN weekend which means that the beach is going to be covered in all sorts of nonsense. Personally I would just try and give it a look in the mornings, get a few little waves if it looks ok, and get out of dodge before the chaos erupts...but that is just me. If the nonsense is your thing...then this is your weekend.

Here are the tides…

08/07/2010 Saturday
02:22AM LDT -0.6 L
08:48AM LDT 3.7 H
01:27PM LDT 2.2 L
07:35PM LDT 6.3 H

08/08/2010 Sunday
02:59AM LDT -1.0 L
09:17AM LDT 4.1 H
02:18PM LDT 1.8 L
08:22PM LDT 6.6 H

Thursday’s Surf – A little more SW’er

Thursday is looking surfable…and with a little more SW swell in the water there will be a little less waiting between sets.

Swellwise we are going to see a mix of leftover S-SW swell (180-205) from earlier in the week and a new SW swell (200-220) that starts to slowly fill in later in the day. Local windswell creeps up in the afternoon but winds in the outer waters have been on the mild side lately (the eddy death ray is working!) so there isn’t a lot of energy out of the WNW-NW.



Average S-SW facing spots will be mostly in the knee-waist high range on Thursday…with some waiting time between the bigger sets (stupid SPAC islands always getting in the way). The better exposed spots, the SW facing regions that don’t have to deal with our nearshore island blockage, will be more consistent in the waist-chest high range…and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a chest-shoulder high set sneak through on the lower tides.

Winds look good…mostly light and variable in the morning with some spots of slight onshore texture at the really exposed beaches. Look for winds to shift to the W around 5-10 knots by lunchtime and then eventually top out around 15 knots for the afternoon.



With the surf being on the small side (and a bit inconsistent) I still think your small-wave boards are your best bet…you might be able to get away with some fishy at the top breaks, but if the tide gets too high and the sets bog out…you might be stuck groveling. I think the morning, the earlier the better, will be the best call…but for those of us that can’t roll out of bed at the crack of dawn it should still be surfable till the winds start to pick up too much.

Here are the tides…

08/05/2010 Thursday
01:00AM LDT 0.5 L
07:52AM LDT 3.1 H
11:15AM LDT 2.8 L
05:50PM LDT 5.5 H

Waves for Wednesday – Small mix of S-SW swell continues

Wednesday will be surfable…but there isn’t a lot of swell out there, so either plan on bringing some good small-wave gear or a lot of patience.

In the water we are going to have a mix of weak S-SW swells (180-210)…some of which are fading out and another more SW’erly (200-215) that starts to creep up in the background. Local windswell even looks pretty weak…there is some energy in the outer waters but the swell angle is too steep to get much of it to the beach.



Most spots are going to hold around the knee high range on Wednesday…with some knee-thigh high surf setting up at the more SSW-SW facing spots that can pull in a little more of the energy. The standout SSW-SW facing breaks, mostly through South OC and a few select parts of North SD, will be more consistently in the waist-chest high range…with a few inconsistent shoulder high sets slipping through on the lower tides.

Winds look ok for the morning…sort of overcast and clean for most areas…and a little light texture at the really open spots. At this point it looks like variable winds below the 2-3 knot range for the morning with a little more onshore texture showing down near the border. Look for the overcast to take a little longer burning off…but sunny skies and onshore winds will creep in by the afternoon. Expect W-WNW winds around 10-12 knots with some 15-knot gusts hitting the exposed areas by the later afternoon.





Wednesday just sort of feels like your standard summer surf day…nothing to exciting, but not totally flat either…(too bad the water isn’t a bit warmer). I think that our best bet is for a morning surf…if you can really make the dawn patrol (first light is around 5:40am), you can take advantage of the last part of the tide push. Really though I would bring your small-wave boards and try to find a spot that can handle the bit of high-tide that hits around 7am.

Here are the tides…happy hunting…make sure to try HB Pier, I hear the crowd is light there.

08/04/2010 Wednesday
12:05AM LDT 1.1 L
07:10AM LDT 2.8 H
09:22AM LDT 2.7 L
04:47PM LDT 5.1 H

Friday’s Surf – Well at least it will be warm in the morning…(please note the sarcasm)

Friday will be semi-rideable but it will be a long way away from what I would call a surf day.

If you were looking at the full spectrum of swell energy that is showing on the forecast models for Friday you would be all excited and would probably skip around your yard like a spastic little kid…that is until you went back and looked at the actual “amount of energy” that all of these swells are showing…then you would just be sad.



Then you could look at the beach temps and it would just make you want to curl up in a little ball and think of your happy place. This July sure is sort of sucking.



Now that I have crushed your hopes and dreams…we can get on with the details. Swellwise… basically we are going to have a bunch of different little S-SW swells (180-220) and some sloppy NW windswell…none of which are going to be very fun.



We can expect the average spots to see surf in the ankle-knee high range while the standout combo spots see some waist high sets. Overall the “push” of the surf is going to be pretty soft…but you might be able to get out there and ride a big board or something like a downed redwood log.

Winds will be ok…not great…just sort of blah. Look for winds to be light/variable/onshore through the morning. Mostly clean, but with a little texture here and there. The really exposed spots will have some 4-5 knot onshore bump…which if you pardon the pun, blows. Look for WNW-NW winds 10-15 knots for the afternoon.



I wouldn't be in a hurry to get to the beach...and if you do go, bring the wetsuit and the small wave gear. Personally I might be staying home and building some awesome lego spaceships with my 5 year old.

Here are the tides...

07/30/2010 Friday
06:13AM LDT 0.7 L
12:35PM LDT 4.3 H
06:35PM LDT 1.9 L

Surf for Thursday – Oh there will be a few little waves out there Thursday morning...

To be honest…my bed is going to feel so freaking awesome that it might take some sort or serious natural disaster, or a pumping double-overhead combo swell with Santa Ana winds, to properly motivate me enough to leave the soft heavenly goodness that is calling me right now.

Ok…Thursday looks a little surfable (little being the key word there)…there isn’t much swell in the water…but there will be a few semi-rideable waves that will pull together at the breaks that can combo up a little of the swell.

We are going to have a mix of overlapping S-SW swells as well as a bit of NW windswell. The Southern hemi swells are either fading out, weren’t big enough to begin with, or got blocked up by the south Pacifica islands that seem to really like to screw up our swell. The NW windswell will be out there too…but the angle is too steep and most of the that energy will get blocked up by Point conception.



Most spots are going to hold in the ankle-knee high range…basically big enough to push some water on the sand, but not enough to ride. The S-SW facing breaks will be a little more energetic…but even those breaks will be the most fun on the bigger board.

Winds look good, (well of course they do…there isn’t any swell…stupid wind). Look for light and variable conditions in the morning with a couple of small pockets of onshore texture. Overall it will be pretty clean so if you can find a spot that can combo up the swell mix I would try and get on it before the winds get too strong. Look for NW winds 10-15 knots by the afternoon.



I might load up the longboard and give the local little beach breaks a check in the morning…but really I am going to get some coffee and some doughnuts, watch the tide drop…and maybe, just maybe, if I get some extra sleep this morning I might get out there and ride a few windswell softies.

Here are the tides…I would send some extra time listening to your pillow tomorrow.

07/29/2010 Thursday
05:50AM LDT 0.3 L
12:07PM LDT 4.3 H
05:48PM LDT 1.9 L
11:29PM LDT 4.5 H

Waves for Wednesday – A few, crumbly, but rideable waves

Wednesday will be semi-rideable...but the swell mix really isn’t all that impressive, and it looks like the winds will get on things pretty early. So if you are planning on surfing try to get out there in the morning before things get funky as the tide comes up and the winds begin hacking things up.

There are going to be a few waves on Wednesday but the winds aren’t going to be the greatest in the morning. There is a little bit of light onshore flow that sets up early and then just continues to strengthen out of the WNW-NW as we move throughout the day.

Our swell mix will be a blend of overlapping S-SW swells (180-210) and some NW windswell…none of it will be particularly big, but the SW swell (190-210) will be a bit stronger since it is filling in. The background windswell will sort of just hang out...and do what weak windswells usually do (not really much of anything).



Most spots will be in the knee-waist high range while the better exposed W facing areas and the good combo SW spots see some chest- to almost inconsistent shoulder high sets. The standout SW facing spot, mostly at the summer spots in San Diego and South OC, will be more in the waist-chest high range with some shoulder high+ surf sneaking in on the lower tide sets. Expect some pretty long waits between the bigger set waves due to the long-period nature of the SW swell…but the top spots could be pretty fun when everything gets a chance to blend together the right way…just don’t spend a lot of time holding your breath waiting for the quality waves.

Winds are where it is going to be funky…the WNW-NW flow is expected to get a jump on things early. It shouldn’t be more than 3-4 knots for most areas…but it will have enough energy to add some texture to the more open spots. Look for the NW flow to top out around 10-12 knots by midday and then probably hitting close to the 10-20 knot range by the afternoon. It will be pretty hacked up at the more exposed spots by the end of the day.





Like I said I would try and get on it early so that you can get some cleaner surf and the tides will be a bit more favorable. Unfortunately the new SW swell won’t be filling in too much through the dawn patrol, but you should still be able to find some playful waves if you bring the right boards. I would stick with the small wave gear…maybe even a few longboards just so that you can catch the smaller but more rideable waves while waiting for the bigger sets.

07/28/2010 Wednesday
05:26AM LDT 0.0 L
11:40AM LDT 4.2 H
05:08PM LDT 1.9 L
10:56PM LDT 5.0 H
ng

Waves for Tuesday – We can expect a few playful waves…but there will be long waits between sets and a shape will be a little gutless when they do show

Tuesday is looking like a Surf Day…it won’t be stellar or huge but the combo of S-SW swell will keep at least some rideable waves showing at the well exposes summer spots.

Sizewise It looks like a little more of the same on Tuesday…winds will remain on the light side and we can expect a slightly better pulse of S-SW along with a touch of southern heimi swells and background wind swells and some slightly stronger WNW-NW wind and that will slip in through the gaps in our nearshore islands as we move throughout the day.



Most of the average SW/NW combo spots are going to hold in the knee-waist high range with some occasional waist-chest high sets. The better combo breaks, that do a better job pulling in the mix of windswell and the inconsistent, but still playful, S-SW swells will hold more in the waist-chest high range with some inconsistent chest-shoulder high sets that will sneak in on those shallower sandbars, and lower tides. That little swell mix combo should end up being at least semi-fun, if not a bit better at times. It won’t great, but surf but if you bring the right gear and a good attitude, you should be able to have some fun.

Winds look light in the morning with most areas seeing winds below the 5-know range, while in the more protected the spots see nearly glassy shape. I am expecting the winds to hold the lightest morning but the onshore flow does pick up pretty fast and we can expect building onshore bump in ghd 10-15 knot range by the afternoon.





With our swell mix being a bit on the small side…it isn’t going to be super exciting…and while it won’t be flat, it will be weak and inconsistent enough on the sets that it might not be a bad idea to bring the small wave gear…that way you can get some more fun out of the in-betweeners, but still be ready to pick off the bigger waves that will sneak through on the slightly better tides and on the inconsistent sets.

Here are the tides…happy hunting the small surf tomorrow.

Surf for Monday – Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

Just kidding…I have been out kicking it in Wyoming….letting my boys play with the great-grandparents and having a hell of a time of finding a way to connect to the interweb.



Next time I am bringing the sat phone

I finally installed a cell tower on an antelope, but those suckers are fast, (and weren’t too fond of the power drill) so after a lovely sprint (ok…it was a slow walk at my part) the little critter got tuckered out enough to lay down I got a chance to upload the blog.




Ok onto the surf forecast….Monday looks like a surfable day…not a great day mind you…bit with enough rideable waves that if you can find a playful little line here and there….but you are also going to want to pack an open mind, and a wetsuit(Just in case the water temps continue to stink it up)



The average S facing stops are going to see surf in the waist-chest high range while a few of the standout breaks see some shoulder high sets…waves will be inconsistent since we are seeing the tail end of the Sw swell…it won’t fade completely again but there will be less size and consistency as we head into the afternoon . Look for smaller waves again after dark.

Winds look…sort of marginal…nothing great…just sort of variable in the morning…not onshore shore, not offshore, but not clean either. Mostly the winds will be below the 05- knot range but there may be some lighter/cleaner breaks at regions that have a little protection from the S winds…places with piers, rocks, jetties, high-cliffs…so if you had to pick I would try and stick with spots that have a little shelter. Winds will be onshore around 10-15 knots out of the NW by the late afternoon.





Surfwise the summer facing spots and the really good combo breaks are going to be the best bet. The S swell lines will be a bit inconsistent but the windswell will be a bit gutless as well but if you can find a little sandbar then you might get a away with a little more pop out of the combo. Overall bring the smaller Wave gear...you will just be b able to pick off a few more of the fun ones while waiting for the bigger sets.

Here are the tides…I will try and get back to a more normal schedule soon…just as soon as I catch the antelope.



07/26/2010 Monday
04:34AM LDT -0.5 L
10:49AM LDT 4.0 H
03:56PM LDT 1.9 L
09:53PM LDT 5.7 H