Waves for the Weekend – some surf, some wind, a little rain

There will be some waves this weekend. Nothing great overall, but it will be surfable if you keep an open mind.

Weather is going to remain a little unstable...there some sort of upper-level disturbance that moves through the area over the next couple of days, potentially setting up some rain on Sunday/Monday but “not effecting the wind that much” according to some forecasts. Usually when this happens it means sort of fluky winds, sometimes onshore, sometimes swirly, sometimes glassy...it just sort of depends on how you catch it and how exposed your surf spot is. I think it is going to be another couple of days of needing to sacrifice your swell exposure for wind protection (which is a crap deal if I ever heard of one)...so keep that in mind.

Swellwise we are going to see the mix of leftover WNW energy, some long-period, but shadowed NW swell, and some new/inconsistent SW swell (205-220 which means it gets shadowing from both the SPAC islands and the nearshore ones). The WNW-NW energy will be bigger on Saturday and the SW energy will be bigger on Sunday.



We are going to continue to see the average surf spots hold waves in the waist to occasionally chest high range. Standout combo spots, mostly through South OC and San Diego, see some chest-chest high+ sets...maybe even a couple of shoulder high waves on the lower tides.

Winds, like I mentioned will be swirly...I would look for lighter more variable wind through the morning and mostly W winds around 10-12 knots through the afternoon. The chance of some patchy fog on Saturday and some light showers on Sunday. I would try and stick with the spots that can pull in some of the swell but still have a little shelter from the potential bump.

Here are the tides...

Saturday
04:59AM LST 0.6 L
10:46AM LST 3.7 H
04:38PM LST 1.0 L
10:57PM LST 5.0 H

Sunday
05:54AM LST 0.6 L
11:41AM LST 3.1 H
05:02PM LST 1.4 L
11:36PM LST 5.0 H

Is it just me or has this winter been particularly sucky? Just going over my notes and looking at the posts I have throw together...and I feel like this winter has sucked so far. Has it sucked for you guys too?

I keep seeing photo slideshows on other websites that try and make it sound like there has been great surf in SoCal for the last couple of months, we just needed to have no jobs and sit at the beach all day long to score a perfect 15 minute (of good lighting) session. I personally have had a couple of fun sessions but they seem to pale compare to winters-past. Am I just getting old and bitter? Do you guys have any thoughts on the state of the winter?

Surf for Friday – leftovers and steep NW swell

Friday is looking more like a surf day.

We are going to have a few tide issues in the morning but there should be some rideable, but leftover WNW energy, local windswell, some background SW swell, and a new (but really steep) NW swell (290-300...really 295-300+). Here is a closer look at the current CDIP model...these are the local images (they are actually generated using a different set of buoys compared to the “full socal” version of this model)...I thought I would throw them up to break up the scenery a little.









For all that different swell activity it isn’t going to be all that big. We can expect more surf in the waist-chest high range at the average WNW facing spots and the better combo breaks.

The top combo spots and the really exposed NW winter spots can expect surf more consistently in the chest-high+ range with some inconsistent shoulder high+ sets pushing through at times.

Winds and weather should be better on Friday. The high-pressure is building back in tonight and winds are expected to go light and variable for tomorrow morning...staying below 5 knots for the morning. Winds do come onshore more in the afternoon but generally stay out of the WNW-NW around 10-12 knots. The one exception is up around Santa Barbara and Northern Ventura...looks like moderate NW winds hold most of the day...even through the morning.

Friday looks like we will get a few fun waves for most spots...nothing huge, or even that good shape, just sort of fun. The tide will be a bit of an issue in the morning so stick with spots that can handle a little water.

Also if you are looking for more size you are going to want to check out the more exposed winter breaks...even though that NW swell is sort of out of our swell window it has a little energy that will wrap around the corner and mix into our other swell... so if you are in SD or Ventura it might be worth hunting around the really exposed winter spots. It won’t be worth driving very far but if it only adds a couple of minutes to the search you might get lucky.

Here are the tides...

04:13AM LST 0.6 L
10:03AM LST 4.3 H
04:15PM LST 0.5 L
10:26PM LST 4.9 H

Thursday’s Surf – Marginal but with a little more energy

Thursday isn’t looking like much of a surf day...

We will have a little more swell in the water from a couple of different sources but local winds are still pretty unstable. The winds didn’t do a very good job cleaning up this morning...there were a couple of rideable pockets but for the most part it was pretty sloppy. The current forecast has these winds continuing overnight, slowing down a touch in the morning, and then increasing again by Thursday afternoon, which needless to say is pretty lame.

Swellwise we are going to see a touch more energy in the water...local WNW-NW windswell is going to come up a couple of notches, we are going to have some longer-period NW energy (290-300 so it will be on the shadowed side), and there will be some slightly stronger SW swell (205-220) that pulses up in the background. The CDIP is showing a bit of the energy...but most of it is chop from the winds this afternoon so don’t get too excited.



For all of that activity it still looks like most of the average spots are going to hold around knee-waist high with some less consistent chest high sets sneaking through as the swells mix together. The standout combo spots and good NW facing breaks will have surf in the chest-high range fairly consistently and some bigger sets pushing through on the lower tides.

Winds are forecast to stay onshore overnight...but lighten up slightly for the morning. Right now it looks like we can expect WNW flow around 5-10 knots for the morning, lighter in some pockets around LA. It should have enough leftover chop that shape stays pretty funky into the dawn patrol. NW winds get back on the horse and come onshore around 10-15 knots by the afternoon.

With the winds, and the local windswell, holding into tomorrow I think that shape is going to be a bit ugly, particularly at the more open/exposed beaches. Even though there will be more size I expect to see those scattered, sort of sloppy, stacked up lines that you normally get with the shorter period swells. Personally I wouldn’t spend a lot of time checking it...maybe a cam check during the dawn patrol to see if the winds possibly laid down more than the forecast is calling for...but if it looks bumpy early don’t expect much of a clean up through the day.

Winds do look a little better by Friday and even cleaner by the weekend...there should be a little bit of swell still pushing through as well...so it looks a bit more surfable over the next couple of days.

Here are the tides for Thursday...

03:34AM LST 0.8 L
09:25AM LST 4.8 H
03:52PM LST 0.1 L
09:59PM LST 4.8 H