Waves for the Weekend – Semi-sloppy Saturday…cleaner and bigger on Sunday

Sunday looks like a surf day this weekend…Saturday on the other hand will be rideable, maybe even semi-clean in the morning but building onshore winds are going to junk it up pretty fast.

Over the weekend we can expect a mix of slowly building NW windswell (290-300) that starts pushing up late Friday night and will continue to fill in through Saturday eventually peaking on Sunday. There will also be some weak overlapping shots of S-SW swell that will push small surf into the well exposed breaks. On Sunday a new, bigger WNW-NW swell (285-300 but with most of the energy around 290-300), will arrive adding size to most of the exposed spots throughout Socal but hitting Southern SD a bit better than others.



Expect a slow start on Saturday…the windswell won’t have filled in much and we will be working off mostly WNW-NW leftovers and small S-SW energy…to top it off the high tide will still be squatting right in the middle of the dawn patrol. Look for the average WNW-NW facing breaks and the better combo breaks to hold right around knee to occasionally waist high. The better NW breaks in Ventura and the South Bay will be more in the waist-chest high range while the top NW spots and best combo breaks in Southern SD will have some chest-shoulder high sets. Shape won’t hold together long…10-20 knot W-WNW winds are forecast to develop around midday and hold through the afternoon.



Sunday will be much cleaner….and really, if the AM tide was a little less lame, it would probably end up being a fun playful surf day. Since we do have about a 5’ high tide that peaks right around 9am we can expect the morning surf to be on the slow side. There will still be some waves but the hightide swampthing is going to keep most areas from being very fun.



Sizewise we can expect the surf to come up a notch on Sunday. Look for the average WNW-NW facing spots to build into the waist-shoulder high range. Standout NW facing breaks and the excellent combo spots will be in the chest-head high range and it looks like a few of the best San Diego NW breaks will see some overhead sets.

We should have some N-NE winds setting up for Sunday morning…mostly below 10-knots and semi-variable in a few areas. So basically we can expect clean conditions, even slightly offshore flow for the morning and then moderate N-NW winds around 10-15+ knots for the afternoon.



Sort of a split decision this weekend…smaller and windy on Saturday (with a short surf window in the morning before the winds get too strong) and then cleaner conditions and building swell on Sunday. I don’t think that the Sunday swell will be worth driving all that far for…but if you are just a little ways from a better NW facing spot then I would take the extra time to check those areas. I am not super excited about the surf this weekend but I will be out seeing if I can find a playful nugget or two. Fortunately it looks like more clean conditions and a better combo swell will be heading our way next week…I can’t wait.

Make sure to check out the regional forecasts for the details for each county.

Regional/County Forecasts

Santa Barbara Surf Forecast
Ventura County Surf Forecast
Los Angeles County Surf Forecast
Orange County Surf Forecast
San Diego Surf Forecast

Here are the tides…

03/13/2010 Saturday
01:40AM LST 1.2 L
07:32AM LST 4.9 H
02:12PM LST -0.1 L
08:16PM LST 4.3 H

03/14/2010 Sunday
03:10AM LDT 0.9 L
09:03AM LDT 4.8 H
03:33PM LDT 0.0 L
09:35PM LDT 4.5 H

Waves for the Weekend – Sloppy Saturday with a clean-up on Sunday

Saturday looks chunky/funky as winds shift and hold onshore. Sunday conditions clean up and it looks like a surf day.

We will get a bit of a split decision this weekend thanks to a cold front pushing through the Socal region late Friday night and then moving further east on Saturday. Onshore W-NW winds will accompany this front and it will have things fairly blown out for Saturday morning. Sunday high-pressure builds back over the area and it looks like offshore winds will return. Swellwise we are going to see a mix of peaking WNW energy (285-300) and some local WNW-NW windswell (290-300). A small SW swell will hold way in the background.



Saturday we can expect the surf to continue to hold in the waist-chest high+ range at the average spots…with a few chest-head high sets mixing in at the “average” WNW-NW facing breaks. The standout NW spots, mostly through Ventura, the South Bay, and San Diego, will have shoulder-overhead surf with sets still going a couple of feet overhead as the swells combo up.



Winds, like I said, are not going to be very good on Saturday. Current forecasts are calling for consistent onshore winds out of the W-NW in the 10-15 knot range throughout Socal along with some stronger gusts hitting 20+ knots at the well exposed beaches from Santa Barbara down through Los Angeles. These winds may lighten up slightly in the afternoon but it would have to completely shut down or go steady offshore for the surf shape to clean up before the end of the day.



Sunday the mix of WNW-NW energy (280-300), both the longer-period and the local windswell, will be backing off steadily throughout the day…but even though it is dropping we will still hold onto some decent size at the exposed spots through the morning. Look for the average WNW facing spots to be in the waist-shoulder high range while the top NW breaks (again at the usual suspects) see some chest-shoulder high surf with sets going head high and still a little overhead through the morning.



Winds look a lot better on Sunday. Offshore winds will start to fill back in later Saturday night and will strengthen as we head into Sunday morning. For the dawn patrol we can expect E-NE winds 10-15 knots with some stronger gusts in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles. Orange County and San Diego will have light/variable offshore flow around 5-8 knots for the morning. Look for variable onshore winds around 10-12 knots for the afternoon, and then another possible clean up for the evening.

If you couldn’t tell Sunday will be the best call surfwise even though the swell will be fading. Saturday at this point looks a bit sloppy. As usual, when we have this sort of unstable conditions (like this passing front), I recommend that you keep a “weather eye” on conditions…sometimes small pockets of surfable conditions can pop up as things get all swirly and the more you pay attention the better your odds of picking one off become. Also please pay attention to the swell direction…the majority of the energy is coming in from 290 and above, and while there is some more westerly components to this swell, it is much smaller at spots that don’t have clear NW exposure. S facing beaches are considerably smaller than the NW facing ones…try to pick breaks that don’t get left out of the fun. NW facing points/reefs have the best shape…the exposed beach breaks are getting pretty walled up.

Here are the tides…have a good weekend…

11/28/2009 Saturday
05:40AM LST 5.4 H
12:51PM LST 0.5 L
06:48PM LST 3.6 H
11:53PM LST 1.8 L

11/29/2009 Sunday
06:10AM LST 5.8 H
01:28PM LST -0.2 L
07:37PM LST 3.6 H