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!

Monday Morning Report –Small and a bit inconsistent

It is clean but not much of a surf day this morning. Don't get me wrong it is ridable but there are some long waits between sets...and even the bigger waves don't have a lot of push behind them.

In the water we have a mix of small SW swell (200-215) and a weak local windswell.

Most spots are averaging around knee-waist high with some inconsistent waist high plus sets sneaking through at times. The top standout spots, mostly in Orange County and parts of San Diego, are seeing waist-chest high sets with an occasional bigger chest-shoulder high peak. It is very inconsistent and the shape is starting to look pretty drained as we drop to the lower tide.

Winds are clean with mostly light and variable conditions for all of our regions. Look for W winds around 10-12 knots for the afternoon.



Here are the tides…have a good Monday.

04:45AM LDT 3.4 H
11:23AM LDT 0.9 L
06:04PM LDT 4.2 H

Surf for Friday – Nice beach weather

Friday won’t be a great surf day...but we will have some rideable waves and the weather is supposed to be pretty nice. A few small waves and some sunny skies...sounds a lot better than working.

We are going to continue to see the mix of local WNW-NW windswell, some SW swell (190-210), and some background WNW energy. Check out the local CDIP models...still a few waves sneaking through in the better exposed areas.









The average spots see some knee-waist high waves with some waist-high+ sets. The standout breaks...the better combo spots and good NW facing breaks (that like windswell) will have some chest-chest high+ sets. Looks like the biggest sizes will continue to show in San Diego, parts of Southern Ventura, and a few of the top combo spots in the other regions. Santa Barbara and the Malibu areas look like they will have the weakest surf.

Winds look good tomorrow...mostly light and variable to light offshore for the morning. Then only weak onshore flow in the afternoon...probably W around 10 knots or so. It is supposed to be about 70 at the beach by the afternoon. I am going to start downloading viruses on my computer now so that it will break about 11am tomorrow.

Your best bet is going to be the top exposed combo spots...I would stick to the ones close to home since there really isn’t enough size to make it worth driving anywhere. The tide will still be a bit of a problem midmorning but there may be a little more of a surfable gap right at dawn. Again I would plan on using your smaller wave gear just so you can maximize the fun of the boggier/smaller surf.

Here are the tides

04:23AM LDT -0.2 L
10:21AM LDT 4.3 H
04:11PM LDT 0.7 L
10:15PM LDT 5.5 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

Waves for Wednesday – more small surf

Wednesday will be another clean but small surf day.

A little more WNW energy moves in and overlaps our existing swell but not enough to really move the size meter. We can still expect most spots to hold around knee high with some knee-high+ sets. The better WNW winter spots, like San Diego, will see some waist-chest high sets on the lower tides. All spots will suffer on the high tide peak. (Stupid tide).

Weather looks good...light/variable to offshore for the morning and variable through the afternoons...just wish we had some surf to go with it.

Here are the tides...since the high-tide is pushing back a little further into the morning the dawn patrol is going to get a little more appealing.

05:04AM LST 1.4 L
10:50AM LST 5.3 H
05:45PM LST -0.4 L

Wednesday’s Waves – last chance to surf in 2008

Wednesday won’t really be a “surf day” but there will be a few waves to ride if you have the right gear (and an open minded attitude).

Just looking at the surf here on Tuesday and it looks like a little more local windswell managed to creep in from the outer waters...and while it got pretty hosed by the higher morning tide it did improve in size and shape by the afternoon as the tide started to drop. By improve I mean that it went from flat to about knee-high with a few mushy waist high waves on the best sets.

Wednesday looks about the same but with a little more windswell and just a touch more general background energy. Most spots will start off on the slow/mushy side thanks to a building morning tide...but will have improving shape as we drop to the lower tide in the afternoon. As the tide evens out we should see consistent knee high-knee high+ surf at the average spots and some waist-chest high sets at the top WNW-NW facing standouts. Again shape will still be sort of gutless...but a weak mushy wave is better than total flatness.

Winds look good again as well...light and variable to light offshore for the morning and then only marginally onshore out of the NW around 10-knots for the afternoon.

Since a lot of us have a holiday tomorrow...or at least a partial one...I think your best bet is to take ‘er easy in the morning, let the air warm up and start thinking about a surf as the tide starts dropping. If you have to surf early then try and get on it at sunup...since the building tide is going to swamp it out pretty fast. Make sure to bring your small wave gear too...longboards will be best...but you might be able to get away with a fish at the top spots if you are a smaller surfer/a teenage girl/you really rip/ or can somehow defy the laws of physics.

Here are the tides...

04:31AM LST 2.5 L
10:20AM LST 5.0 H
05:48PM LST 0.0 L