Archive for October 2008

um… sorry…there are waves

Posted on October 31st, 2008 in North Narrabeen, South Narrabeen.

1630 and rather attractive at nth Collaroy

South change has now blown in. After discharging various family duties, I was able to finally get down to southy with everybody else. I had maybe half an hour in the water. Long enough to jag a few and to take some pics for ya.

One of the Psillakis bros nails yet another wave.

Then the south change hit, and the conditions went from near perfect to perfectly awful in a matter of 3 minutes. Oh well, that’s Huey for ya.

From perfection to this in 3 mins

earlier I wrote….
Heya one and all,

millions out at 1630 and for good reason

Just escaped the baking office for a look at the situation. And I see that the spectacular shots from this morning of the Gardens could be taken again… and again… there are zillions of folks in the water, but the waves are peaking and peeling from Northy just about down to Collaroy.

1630 and rather attractive at nth Collaroy

Pick a peak, introduce yourself to the 20 or so people, and then start hunting for something to pull into. 1.5 metres of ENE 7 sec period stuff should not look this good. With luck I’ll get a few more pics later…

Heat is coming

Posted on October 31st, 2008 in Big Picture, Dee Why.

Hello Friends,

0740: just barely catchable wavelet washes into Dee Why beach.

Although it’s pleasant enough now, the Bureau says we’ll be sweltering by this afternoon when strong, hot NW winds bring inland heat to the coast. If only there were some reasonable waves around. There were a few folks trying to work out a way to catch the tiny, gutless lumps washing weakly into Dee Why this morning, but their success rate was somewhat patchy. Not terribly surprising when you look at the MHL buoy data for the Sydney region. It’s showing a little over a metre of 7 sec period east windswell. And that works out, typically, to wave faces of not much more than waist high – on the big ones… at exposed spots.

As usual, I concur with the Goat’s call for the coming weekend and start of the new week. The models are still holding out hope of something interesting from the south around mid next week. You can get a plausible idea of how the weather forecasting computers are calculating things will play out by watching an animation loop like this one from stormsurf, or this one from NOAA the people who own the computers every surf forecaster relies on.

Hope to get together another batch of interesting links for you to check out later…

Go well!

south-west vancouver island

Posted on October 31st, 2008 in Surf Reports.

on thursday at 5 pm: paltry offering, alas, at our rivermouth point: just steady, half-foot, semi-circular lines, sweeping over low-tide, stony reefs – expect conditions to change fast, since conditions are propitious: lowering skies, some wind and rain, and, at the mouth of the straits, a strong marine wind warning ! winds southeast to 30 knots – please stay tuned …..

Editor’s picks 31 Oct 2008 – An all buoy review

Posted on October 31st, 2008 in Cool Picks, Editor's picks.

It’s one of those days when pretty much all of Australia is small or near flat. How do I know? Well, I rounded up every link I could find to actual (as opposed to virtual) wave buoy data around the surfable regions of Qld, NSW, Vic and WA – and I checked ‘em all.

Pt Nepean buoy location

In NSW we have the Manly Hydraulic Labs (MHL) buoy data and out west they have the Near real-time wave data from the WA Dept of Planning and Infrastructure which posts data from Exmouth | Jurien Bay | Cottesloe | Cockburn Sound | Rottnest | Naturaliste | Albany | Esperance | Comparison.

Not so many wave buoys in Victoria, but here’s one at Point Nepean maintained by the Port of Melbourne. And you can kind of get an idea of what’s coming your way (assuming you’re in western Vic)  by looking at the data coming out of the Cape du Couedic (Kangaroo Island) Wave Observations
or, if you’re closer to Torquay and thereabouts, the Cape Sorell (Tas) Waverider Buoy Observations might be more useful.

Queensland surfers fare only slightly better than those in Vicco. The Queensland Environmental Protection Agency has a page of data traces from SE Qld Wave sites that include Tweed Heads, the Gold Coast and Mooloolaba.

Did I miss a good one? Or do you have a cool surf-related link to share? Then please use the form below to tell me!

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cforms contact form by delicious:days

Posted on October 31st, 2008 in Surf Reports.

The Bat in action

A few aboutHaving some fun Options were available

Aquasea Wetsuit Repairs

Small 1 foot+ fun waves only, hot winds to come later, don’t forget the slip-slop-slap.
WIND: NNW at 35kph. WATER TEMP: 19.5 degrees.
SWELL: ENE 1-2 metres at 7 seconds.
FORECAST: A hot to very hot afternoon. Freshening west to northwest winds, becoming strong at times, ahead of a gusty southerly change in the evening near the coast, later inland. Mostly dry, just the chance of a brief shower, possibly thundery.
MAX AIR TEMP TODAY: 34-36 degrees.
TIDES: HIGH: 09:08 LOW: 15:45
WINDSURFERS: OK for experienced riders today.
BOAT DIVING: Excellent sea conditions outside, vis around 20m+ on the TUGGERAH and Kelloe, 15m+ at Barons Hut, thanks to www.seatamerdive.com Sydney Scuba Diving Boat Charter and Ian Griffiths “Griffiti”.
SHORE DIVING: 8-10 metres vis at Oak Park. 5-6 metres at Shiprock.
WETSUIT REPAIRS at Aquasea, Sydney. 02.95404774 for wetty and wettie repairs contact Lesley for a quick turn around, zippers tears cuts and all alterations.
See ya – Leo at www.aquasea.com.au in Sydney – wetsuit wettie wetty repairs for surfing scuba windsurfers ring Aquasea on 02.95404774, go diving without tanks ie tankless diving using 12 v volt compressors also known as hookah dive diving with www.aquasea.com.au in Sydney NSW Ph: 02.95404774 led hid halogen torches and lights video boat transom lights for underwater lighting at night similar aqua cam camera and cameras see www.aquasea.com.au for stainless wire in your balustrades and for underwater lights and housings cameras. Mob: 0408.002315 SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA.
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Mona Vale

Sorry guys my camera is out of action for today but i can tell you that MV is about shoulder high on the sets, pretty fat but definately surfable, i had a lot of fun on the little rip bowl with only a couple of guys this morning and it was better than it looks! Yeeew

C C

High cloud cover at 90%, muggy and warm on the Central Coast this Friday morning.  The swell is weak and inconsistent at 2 – 3 feet from the east.  There is no breeze at the moment but forecast to go hot west northwest then a southerly change tonight.  High tide 1010 and low tide around 1645.  Local barometer 1006 hpa, 98% humidity, 19 degrees C.  Have a good weekend!

Grey, cool, tiny

Late arvo update:

Shot with the new Panasonic G1.

Spent pretty much the whole day at a press function in Bondi. It was held at the Icebergs, so I had lots of time to watch the surf conditions there this afternoon. Basically, it started out with about 4 people in the water under drizzly skies at 10ish, and by the time I left 6 hours later, it was fairly crowded and sunny, but not dramatically better. For the most part it was in the knee to waist high range, with the odd chest high set. Banks didn’t look too wonderful, but there were occasional sections of interest, especially if you had a fish or a mal.

 

 

Lunchtime lump gets caught.

The press event was Panasonic’s launch of their new G1 micro four thirds digital SLR and the highlight came when they lent us all cameras and set us loose to take pictures of sculpture by the sea artworks. Not exactly great picture taking weather in a conventional sense, but I had fun. I borrowed a telephoto lens at one point when I got to Tama and found there were a few lidders playing in the junky shorepound. The G1 is a relatively small camera, but it’s a true SLR, and my preliminary impressions were favourable. Quite simple to use for the uninitiated I would think, and yet it has all the proper functions more experienced photogs want. Anyway, when we got back from the picture taking expedition, I grabbed another shot of someone mal-ing in the south Bondi shorey for ya.

 

I see the swell direction is still east, but the period has crept up closer to 8 seconds and the average size at sea is getting closer to 2 metres. Wind is out of the NNE at 15-20 kts, so if you’re heading out for a late one on this grey afternoon, this morning’s advice still applies. 

Tomorrow’s still sounding like a furnace. Blasting hot NW winds ahead of a late 20-30 kt south change. I’m not too hopeful about waves, but maybe early you’d still get some of the little windswell that was pushed up toward dark today… small, weak and junky I’d say.

here’s this morning’s thoughts…

 

 

Hello Friends,

More grey skies and little weak chop at Dee Why

Hard to believe at this point, but tomorrow’s going to be hot-as. This morning’s grey skies and cool temps are matched with an equally lacklustre wave situation. Overnight the windswell’s swung back to the east. It’s short period, junky stuff though. According to the MHL data, it’s only 6 seconds apart and about 1.5 metres out at sea. I’d say you’d be doing well if you found a wave face half that height at one of our more easterly stretches of beach.

Mind you, even if you’re able to turn up something worth the effort, the Bureau is running up the strong wind warnings for this afternoon. The wind’s set to go from 10-15 kts NE this morning, to 20-25 kts this afternoon. That’s strong enough to (potentially) create something in the semi-protected north corners toward dusk. And by then the showery weather may have cleared up a bit.

Gotta get on with the day, but I’ll leave you with the cheerful news that a quick scan of the models shows they’re all riffing on a theme of longer period south swell mid-next week. In a bit of a rush this morning, so maybe will take a closer look this afternoon it the schedule permits.

Have yourself a top old day!

TG

Thurs forecats

Fir about 1etre NE

Sat 1-2 dead South spots only

Sun about 1 S

mon less than 1

 tuesday 1-2 S

Wed 1-2 S

Thurs about 2 S

wtaerr is a chiily 19