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

Monday’s Surf – Picking up slightly and with a touch of offshores

Monday still won’t be much of a surf day.

Sure…conditions will be clean through the morning and we will have a touch of new NW swell (290-300 with most of the every above 295-degrees) mixing in with the minor NW and SW leftovers we already have in the water...but the new swell it isn’t very strong to begin with, it is also shadowed by the more northerly swell angle, and to top it off, it has to power through a 6’ high tide right smack in the middle of the morning session. Basically the combo of a weak swell mix and a solid morning high tide is going to shut down much chance of it being a “surf day”.



Wave heights for tomorrow are going to continue to hold around knee high at the average spots with a few rare waist high sets mixing in on the lower tides. The standout NW facing breaks will be a touch bigger, mostly in the knee-waist high range with some rare chest high sets. Unfortunately like I mentioned before the high-tide is going to flatten out all but the most tide resilient breaks…really with this much water even the spots that like a “higher” tide are going to have some issues.

Winds will be good…light to moderate offshore in the morning…sort of classic Fall conditions. Winds will stay light through midday and then turn onshore out of the WNW around 10-14 knots at the more exposed areas.



I think our best bet is to try and wait for the tide to drop…hopefully we will be able to see a few lines start to show as we head towards lunchtime. I wouldn’t waste a lot of time looking for waves in the morning, just too much tide already for most places. Even if you can stall out your session till the tide drops plan on bringing the small wave boards (mostly longboards) and expect to be sitting around most of the time while waiting for rideable sets.

Here are the tides…

01:39AM LST 1.6 L
07:45AM LST 6.1 H (swampthing!)
02:54PM LST -0.5 L
09:05PM LST 4.0 H

Surf for Monday – Labor Day windswell

Thanks to the continuing local windswell Labor Day is looking rideable (but still not much of a surf day).

We are going to see a mix of minor NW windswell, some background long-period NW energy, and some weak SW swell.



Wave heights are going to continue to hold about the same as the last couple of days…so lots of knee-high stuff with some waist high windswell lines at the average spots. Standout NW facing breaks as well as the good combo breaks will be more consistently around waist high with some rare chest high sets mixing in. Again it looks biggest and most consistent in San Diego and Southern Ventura but the usual windswell breaks all over will have a few rideable lines sneaking through in the morning.

Winds look good early…mostly light and variable to light offshore through the dawn patrol, and then variable onshore around midmorning. Look for WNW winds 10-15 knots moving in through the afternoon.



Longboards and thick fishy board will be the call again tomorrow…the guys with the extra foam look like they are going to have the most fun. Don’t expect a ton from the surf tomorrow, even the spots that have waves will still be pretty windswelly and boggy due to the shorter-period nature of the swell…your best bet will be to hit the spots with a lot of sand (and that usually like the windswell). I wouldn’t spend a lot of time looking for waves tomorrow, but most of us have the day off, it isn’t totally flat, and riding a couple softies is better than sweating on land somewhere...so cruising for a few extra minutes probably won't hurt, just don't expect to find much better surf around the corner.

Here are the tides...have a good one!

04:52AM LDT 1.1 L
11:00AM LDT 5.3 H
05:37PM LDT 0.9 L
11:28PM LDT 4.0 H

Thursday’s Leftovers – hmmm smells like week old meatloaf

Much like the last couple of days Thursday won’t be much of a surf day.

We will basically see a small mix of leftover SW swell (200-220) and some local NW windswell. It won’t be totally flat…but as the tide fills in and the wind picks during the afternoon it will feel like it.



Average spots with some SW exposure will be in the knee high range with a rare bigger set mixing in at times. Shape will be soft and if the tide is too high it will be pretty gutless. Top SW facing spots won’t fare much better…they will hold in the knee-waist high range on the sets with some random waist high+ sets sneaking through on the lower tides in the early morning.

Winds look ok…sort of eddyish…but light through the morning. Call it light/variable onshore with a touch more texture in San Diego and OC…cleaner further north. Look for building onshore winds in the 10-14 knot range by the afternoon.



It will be small wave gear again on Thursday...big boards will work the best…but if you are a 70lb grom you might get away with a fishier shape. Winds will be light, the water is warming back up again (HB was calling it 67F today), and it won’t be a total lake…and when you get down to it any sort of surf is better than sitting behind a desk somewhere. Personally I am not going to spend a ton of time trying to find surf…but I still might paddle out to shake off some of the dust before the new swells start to fill in.

Here are the tides…

03:55AM LDT -1.1 L
10:04AM LDT 5.0 H
03:45PM LDT 0.9 L
09:44PM LDT 6.4 H

Surf for Thursday – Looking a bit small

Thursday is not looking like much of a surf day…mostly because of lack of swell.

It won’t be totally flat but the meager mix of swell that we do have out there isn’t going to do us any favors. Thursday we are going to see a blend of weak SW swell (190-220) and background NW windswell.



The average S facing spots are going to be in the knee high range with inconsistent waist high sets, and even those will only show during the tide push. The standout SW facing spots, mostly through South OC and North SD, (maybe a couple lucky areas in north LA), will have more consistent knee-waist high surf with rare waist high+ sets. The swell period is pretty short on this one (around 13 seconds) so expect mostly gutless almost windswelly shape.

Winds will be ok…mostly light and variable through the morning, with a lot of spots seeing clean conditions. WNW winds around 10-12 knots will move in through the afternoon.



Like I said it won’t be totally Lake Pacific tomorrow but it will be pretty soft and burgery even on sets. Really it will be pretty much the summertime poop that we are kind of used to in Socal. It will be a decent beginners day…or a summer longboard day. Personally I wouldn’t spend a lot of time checking it or driving around…if you see a semi-rideable wave get on it before the tide or wind gets it.

Here are the tides…

03:11AM LDT 2.7 H
07:17AM LDT 2.3 L
02:43PM LDT 5.0 H
11:07PM LDT 1.0 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