Waves for Wednesday – Small mix of S-SW swell continues

Wednesday will be surfable…but there isn’t a lot of swell out there, so either plan on bringing some good small-wave gear or a lot of patience.

In the water we are going to have a mix of weak S-SW swells (180-210)…some of which are fading out and another more SW’erly (200-215) that starts to creep up in the background. Local windswell even looks pretty weak…there is some energy in the outer waters but the swell angle is too steep to get much of it to the beach.



Most spots are going to hold around the knee high range on Wednesday…with some knee-thigh high surf setting up at the more SSW-SW facing spots that can pull in a little more of the energy. The standout SSW-SW facing breaks, mostly through South OC and a few select parts of North SD, will be more consistently in the waist-chest high range…with a few inconsistent shoulder high sets slipping through on the lower tides.

Winds look ok for the morning…sort of overcast and clean for most areas…and a little light texture at the really open spots. At this point it looks like variable winds below the 2-3 knot range for the morning with a little more onshore texture showing down near the border. Look for the overcast to take a little longer burning off…but sunny skies and onshore winds will creep in by the afternoon. Expect W-WNW winds around 10-12 knots with some 15-knot gusts hitting the exposed areas by the later afternoon.





Wednesday just sort of feels like your standard summer surf day…nothing to exciting, but not totally flat either…(too bad the water isn’t a bit warmer). I think that our best bet is for a morning surf…if you can really make the dawn patrol (first light is around 5:40am), you can take advantage of the last part of the tide push. Really though I would bring your small-wave boards and try to find a spot that can handle the bit of high-tide that hits around 7am.

Here are the tides…happy hunting…make sure to try HB Pier, I hear the crowd is light there.

08/04/2010 Wednesday
12:05AM LDT 1.1 L
07:10AM LDT 2.8 H
09:22AM LDT 2.7 L
04:47PM LDT 5.1 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

Surf for Friday – Smaller and still bumpy

Friday won’t be a surf day.

Oh it won’t be totally flat....there might be a couple of semi-rideable waves at the top spots...but dropping SW swell and steady eddy conditions will hamper shape and consistency. We are going to have a mix of fading SW swell (200-220) and a bit of weak local WNW windswell.



Average spots will be in the knee high range with rare waist high sets. Standout SW facing spots, again in South Orange County and Northern San Diego, will have a few waist high+ waves on inconsistent sets.

The wind will be the same sort of eddy conditions that we saw on Thursday. Mostly variable onshore for the majority of our beaches, with more southerly to southwesterly flow as you move into Orange County and San Diego County areas. Current wind models are showing the eddy developing pretty low and further off to sea than normal...which could be good (if the winds spinning off the eddy are light when they hit the coast) or bad (as the winds come more out of a SW direction that offers little protection for most beaches). Check out the COAMPS for tomorrow morning...



I would take it slow tomorrow morning...maybe do a wind/surf-cam check in the morning before spending time/money/gas getting to the beach. If you have to surf, and don’t mind a little bumpy crumblers, I would stick to the top SW spots since they will have a little more push to the sets.

Here are the tides...

01:19AM LDT 0.4 L
08:13AM LDT 3.3 H
11:55AM LDT 2.9 L
06:17PM LDT 5.2 H