Waves for the weekend – Happy 4th of July!

Saturday and Sunday will be semi-surf days.

Most spots will be rideable, and a few of the best exposed (and wind sheltered), will even be fun at times. Overall they won’t be very consistent, or big…they will just be your standard summer SW swell.

For our swell mix this weekend we are going to see a building SW swell (200-220) that fills in on Saturday (mixing with energy from the work week), and some backing down NW windswell. The SW’er will actually peak overnight into Sunday and then fade slowly on Monday as the swell direction turns a bit more southerly. In fact it is going to look a lot like what we have on the CDIP this morning. You can see how the more SW’erly angle is going to cause the nearshore islands to shadow some of our areas, mostly North Orange County and Northern Ventura.



Wavewise the average exposed spots are going to hold around waist-chest high. The standout SW facing spots, mostly in San Diego and South OC, are going to have chest-shoulder high surf with some rare bigger sets on the better tides. The shadowed areas (North OC, North Ventura) can expect smaller, less consistent, surf…mostly around knee-waist high with some occasional chest high sets on the lower tides. The shadowed areas will start to get a little bigger as the swell turns more southerly early next week.

The winds and the weather are going to just be ok. We are going to continue to see the eddyish conditions over the weekend, but with some lighter morning windspeeds. Both Saturday and Sunday can expect light and variable to light southerly winds in the morning and then NW winds around 10-15 knots by the afternoon. Expect some onshore texture for a few of the more exposed areas…even through the dawn patrol. If you have the option it would be best to stick to spots with high cliffs, kelp, basically something to knock down the wind.

Saturday @ 8am



Sunday @ 8am



Beach temps will be sort of mild…low-mid 60’s in the morning to low 70’s in the afternoon once the sun burns through.

It is the holiday weekend…so expect crowds, shitty parking, and lots of traffic in the coastal areas. Personally I am going to stick close to my home breaks to cut down on the frustration. If you have to drive for a while to get to the beach I would hit the road early.

Here are the tides…Have a great 4th of July weekend!

Saturday
02:58AM LDT -0.4 L
09:33AM LDT 3.4 H
01:43PM LDT 2.5 L
07:56PM LDT 5.7 H

Sunday
03:33AM LDT -0.6 L
10:05AM LDT 3.5 H
02:23PM LDT 2.5 L
08:31PM LDT 5.8 H

Thursday's Surf - Even more S swell!

The S swell was showing pretty well on Wednesday...but, like I thought, it wasn't that great at the beach breaks...the points and reefs were definitely the call if you didn't mind battling it out with 200 of your closest friends.

Check out the scene at Malibu today...(I screen grabbed this about 4pm).

"got next!"

Anyway Thursday will be a surf day too...

The S swell will continue to hold throughout the day and we may even see an increase of local windswell. I don't think the windswell is going to be able to break up the S swell but it may help a little bit at the better combo breaks.

Average spots will continue to see surf in the chest-shoulder high range with a few head high waves.

Standout S facing breaks, mostly through Orange County and Northern San Diego, will have shoulder-head high surf with a few overhead waves mixing in.

Winds will be ok…mostly light and variable in the morning with building W’erly flow through the afternoon, eventually topping out around 10-12 knots.

Points and Reefs will be the call again on Thursday…maybe a couple of the good sandbars (like the ones near piers and jetties) as well. The more open beach breaks will still have some shape issues…lots of walls and lots of current at times. I am not sure home much this swell is worth driving for anymore…most everyone is on it, which means that most of the good points and reefs will look a lot like that Malibu picture…you will have to weigh your need for quality surf vs. how aggravated a crowd can make you.