Friday's Surf - More SW swell for tomorrow

Friday will be another surf day. Our new SW swell will start to peak and winds/weather continue to look very nice as things stay hot and sunny and winds remain light.

You can already see the new SW swell hitting the buoys...here is a shot of the Dana Point Buoy. Remember to check the live site for the latest data. http://www.lajollasurf.org/buoylist.html




For the surf tomorrow we can expect this mix of SW swell (190-205), both with leftovers from earlier in the week and the new SW'er, to blend with some increasing energy from the WNW. The WNW'er will definitely be a background swell so look for the biggest waves at the SW facing spots...or good combo breaks.

Sizewise look for the average spots to see surf in the chest-high range. The better SW facing breaks in Ventura and LA will have some chest-shoulder high+ sets coming through. Standout SW facing breaks in Orange County and San Diego will see surf in the shoulder-head high range with some overhead sets mixing in at the top spots.

Winds will be mostly light offshore through the morning for all areas...maybe even some spots with moderate offshore texture. It doesn't look like a full blown Santa Ana or anything but it does look clean and a little chilly for the morning. Afternoon winds do eventually try and switch onshore but stay around 10-knots or so.

Again I managed to get a few waves around lunchtime on Thursday and the local beach breaks, that do really well pulling in SW swell, were mostly walled up. There were a couple of semi-makeable corners but mostly I was seeing sets come through with 5-6 guys taking off one right after another (about 20-yards apart) and everyone getting close out on. Occasionally there would be some heroic barrels before getting worked but I didn't see many people come out of them. So with that in mind I really think that the points/reefs are going to be the call tomorrow...beach breaks are going to be wally...and with some lovely current to paddle against as well.

Here are the tides for Friday.

12:46AM 0.3' Low
07:11AM 5.1' High
01:19PM 1.3' Low
07:00PM 4.8' High

Humpday Waves - SW swell showing a bit better than anticipated.

Wednesday will be a surf day.

There is a decent pulse of SW swell (190-210) that started showing early on Tuesday and will continue to push in on Wednesday. We will also see some local WNW energy holding in the background.

To be honest I wasn't expecting Tuesday to have as much energy as it did...the fetch that sent us this SW'er was on the tail-end of the storm that did a lot of its surf generation in the more westerly portion of our swell window, which usually means the energy gets chewed up by the SPAC islands. But based on what I am seeing on the buoys it looks like the storm was a bit more intense than it looked as it moved into our more open swell window, which means I get to add a little more size to Wednesday's surf. One of the few times I don't mind being a bit too conservative.


Is it just me or is the buoy giving me the finger?

On Wednesday look for the average exposed breaks to hold around waist-chest high with some inconsistent shoulder high sets. The top spots, mostly through San Diego and Orange County but also at a few of the better combo spots in the other regions, will see some shoulder-head high waves on the lower tides.

Look for mostly light/variable winds through the morning with a few pockets of light southerly texture and fog in the more southern regions (OC and SD). WNW winds build in around 10-12 knots for the afternoon.

I think that we will be able to find some fun waves at most of the SW facing breaks tomorrow. The WNW energy isn't really all that strong so try and avoid the winter spots and focus on the SW exposed surf spots and the combo breaks. I think that the points and reefs will have the best shape...mostly because of the dominant SW swell direction and lack of push from the WNW...but the beach breaks should be ok, you might want to check the ones with piers and jetties first though.

Things are still looking solid for the SW swell later this week...looks like some stronger WNW swell (stronger than what we are currently seeing but not much over waist-chest high at the purely winter spots) will arrive as we head into Friday and Saturday.

Damn almost forgot the tides

06:07AM 4.2' High
11:21AM 2.7' Low
04:49PM 4.8' High