Little swell arrives
Posted by: Don on October 1st, 2008Late arvo update:
Wind’s NNE at 10-15 kts as the sun goes down. Not quite as strong as the Bureau forecast (see below for the earlier call), but enough to make the surface pretty ordinary at Dee Why. Meanwhile, the swell is now straight south at around 1.5 metres on average. The MHL buoy is recording 16 second component under a much shorter period windswell. Consequence of this for Dee Why is long waits between sets that are struggling to get to shoulder high. The Batemans Bay buoy is still averaging around the 10 sec mark on the power setting, but my feeling is that the models are right and tomorrow will be back to very small, weak windswell. If we’re lucky it’ll be possible to sort of catch things at NE facing stretches. But waist high looks like being the call for the bomb sets. Not what we want with the highs set to be in the low 30s for Thursday. Hope you jagged yourself a couple…
midday update:
PB and I joined the throngs splashing about in the chest to head high sets at Freshie this morning. Not amazing, but there were some fun sections to be had and those long period sets have some push to ‘em. Here’s a snap to give you a feel for the size…
and below are my thoughts about the conditions this morning…
Hello Friends,
Got started a bit earlier today - just in case. And, as those in the water from first light would report, there are a few small waves around. Swell moved around from the south last night and is now E by ESE. But it’s mainly small with only the very occasional set where Dee Why’s concerned. Reasonable number of bods in the water too. The average wave looked to be around the waist high range, but I did get a pic of a head high set (just the one wave though).
Out at sea, the swell is registering at about 1.5 metres on average with a few 2 metre peak moments in there. Average period is a windswelly 8 seconds, but there have been a few pulses peaking into the 15 seconds. I’d say there’s more in the tank though, because down at Batemans Bay the average period went up to a more useful 10 seconds around midnight. The 15 sec stuff showed up there a few hours before Sydney saw the forerunners, and as of the latest report from Batemans Bay, it’s still in the stats.
The Eden buoy hit the 10 sec mark around midnight and is currently reporting close to 12 sec on average, with peaks hitting the 15 sec mark.
The forecast models are still showing this pulse lasting for only about 12 hours. So, if you’re keen, you’d better get out there to wait with everyone else.
The wind call is for NW this morning, swinging NE this afternoon and pushing up to as much as 20-25 kts by late afternoon.
I plan to update again later after I’ve gathered more information…
Go well!
(Oh yeah, almost forgot, still looking for a functioning notebook capable of running XP for under a couple hundred bucks. If you have such surplus to requirements, please lemme know via the contact form.)












