Frigid Friday – oh look more onshore wind and fading S swell…my favorite.

Friday is not looking very fun…it will be semi-rideable in a few areas but overall between the fading swell and the onshore wind there won’t be many reasons to paddle out.

Swellwise we are going to see leftover S swell (175-185) and some minor local windswell. The S swell will continue to fade through the day so expect smaller and less consistent surf by the afternoon.



Average S-facing spots can expect knee-waist high surf on Friday with a few rare plus sets showing on the lower tides. The standout S facing spots, mostly through Orange County, will have knee-chest high surf with some chest-shoulder high faces slipping through on the largest sets. Again, expect the bigger waves to trail off as we head into the afternoon.

Friday’s winds look pretty lame…there will be some variable onshore flow showing through SB down through the South Bay…mostly below 5 knots but with some 5-7 knot pockets in the more exposed areas. Orange County and down through San Diego will have W-WNW winds around 5-8 knots for the morning…basically staying that way overnight and then re-strengthening as we head into mid-morning. Look for all areas to have 10-15+ W-WNW winds by the afternoon.







The swell is dropping, the winds are going to be funky, and we are going to be fighting through a mid-morning high tide…man all of those sound like good reasons not to go to the beach. Personally I am going to give the surf a quick check in the morning, make sure the wind didn’t lay down overnight, and then I will probably go back to bed. If you have to surf…and I mean “HAVE” to surf…bring your small wave gear, a really open mind, and try to stick to spots that offer up some sort of wind protection.

Here are the tides…

07/09/2010 Friday
02:45AM LDT -0.7 L
09:13AM LDT 3.5 H
01:32PM LDT 2.3 L
07:48PM LDT 6.3 H

Tuesday’s Onshore Wind – slowly fading S swell and junky conditions

Tuesday will still have solid surf but conditions are still going to be pretty sloppy thanks to early onshore winds that strengthen fast through the morning.

The S swell (175-190) will start to slowly fade but still retain a lot of size on Tuesday. NW windswell will continue to hang in the background. Look for the S swell to slowly trail off through the day with the bigger sets becoming less and less consistent as we head into the afternoon/evening



Sizewise we can still expect some decent sized surf…average S facing spots will continue to see chest-head high surf through the morning with a few overhead sets mixing in at times through the lower tides. The standout S facing spots, again mostly in Orange County, will be shoulder-overhead on the average sets with some waves going 2’+ overhead on the less consistent larger sets. Look for the bigger waves to become less frequent through the day.

Winds don’t look good for Tuesday…the forecast charts are calling for 5-10 knot W-WSW winds for most areas in the morning. The winds should be lightest through the early morning but expect the onshore flow to pick up pretty fast around mid-morning. The W-WSW winds are expected to hit 10-15 knots by the afternoon.





It looks like your best bet for semi-clean surf will be in the morning, right around sunrise. Don’t get your hopes up…it won’t be glassy anywhere…and if you are really unlucky and your spot doesn’t have some sort of wind/bump protection it could be fairly choppy. The points and reefs are going to have the best shape…the beach breaks have all been pretty lined up…but if you aren’t in driving range of a point/reef you might be able to find a few corners around the various structures (jetties/piers/rocks…ok rocks aren’t really structures). Overall I wouldn’t get your hopes up on Tuesday’s surf…it looks sloppy and the swell isn’t pushing in to many makeable corners…it is just helping to build a hellish current to paddle against. That being said…there is still plenty of swell in the water…so we can’t totally write it off. I would at minimum give the cameras and wind-stations a quick check in the morning, just to confirm that the winds held on overnight.

Here are the tides…

07/06/2010 Tuesday
12:36AM LDT 1.2 L
06:39AM LDT 2.7 H
10:34AM LDT 2.3 L
05:30PM LDT 5.1 H