Capitola, 24 July 2009

Posted on July 25th, 2009 in California, Half Moon Bay, Surf Sessions. With the south swell jacking up to overheard at many spots around Santa Cruz and a mob on it already, L and I decided to try Capitola for some more sane-sized waves and at least a friendly crowd. The traffic to Santa Cruz after work was unbelievably bad today, with Highway 1 and part of 17 nearly at a standstill. (No, I'm not making this up to cut down on crowds.) When I finally made it to Capitola I was so very ready to get in the water and wash away all the stress and frustration. It was well worth the drive. I got one nice left and a handful of other short but fun rides on my shortboard on the punchy 4' waves.

And I finally got to witness L surfing in only boardshorts and a vest, so now I'm a believer.

An hour at Curly

Posted on July 25th, 2009 in Curl Curl, Don's surfin' pics.

Tide was coming in pretty fast when I turned up at the middle of Curly right on 0900. Wanted to have another play with the Nikon D3 and 200-400 zoom, so I set up on the dunes where I could catch anything happening in the middle of the beach. The outside peaks had some size but were wilting under the baleful influence of the aforementioned tide. A few folks (mostly on bodyboards) were picking up more snappish things right on the sand. Fanged through a fair number of frames anyway. I’ll post them on my blog later today.

Here are a few samples…

Carlsbad is Carlsgood Today!

Posted on July 25th, 2009 in California, Surf Reports.

Landed in LAX yesterday to spend some time with the rellies in sunny SOCAL. Imagine my surprise when I checked the reports this morning – 4 foot @ 18 seconds from the SW! Glad I packed most of my gear – left the big gun at home though as I had set my expectation on low after duly checking the local reports (2 ft at best) prior to leaving.

According to one of the locals I met up with there is a storm off  Baja which is driving the energy and swell. The only downside is an onshore but it really wasn’t affecting the quality that much. Predictions for south facing beaches like Newport is for two foot higher! Can’t wait to see what Saturday delivers!

Hope you had or are having a good one!

Cheers, Doug

www.wozthatyou.com

1-2 foot waves, offshore winds and medium crowd

Posted on July 25th, 2009 in Curl Curl, Surf Reports.

Nothing exciting today but it’s 1-2 feet with light offshores and the crowd isn’t too bad at 9am.  It was better early this morning on the low tide but it’s filling up quickly.  Cracker day- enjoy.

small and clean

Posted on July 25th, 2009 in Manly.

Seems many a person has slept in with the small waves on offer and its no where near as crowded as one would normally expect on a fine and sunny Saturday morning. Perhaps its the chill in the air? Anyway there is no wind, a super low tide and some small 2 footers on the sets.  Its a weak swell and to be honest is not that flash but its a great morning to be out in the ocean. So much for winter.    The more southerly facing beaches would be worth a look one would expect. Enjoy.

Go early to go well

Posted on July 25th, 2009 in Big Picture, Dee Why.

Hello Friends,

Swell’s on the fade so get out there asap if you want a wave. It’s coming from the SSE so there could be a few more spots picking it up than there were yesterday. However the period is a so-so 9 seconds and and the average height is about a metre (down from 2+ yesterday).

Dee Why looks to be waist high and I didn’t see anyone in the water at first light. They’ll be along soon though no doubt.

Outlook is for it to decrease through the day and by tomorrow to be pretty weak and tiny. Monday-Tuesday looks worse again – flat, I’d say for Sydney – and gee the rest of the week isn’t looking exceptionally flash… can spring be here already?

Have yourself a good one!

Don talks surf on Saturday morning with 702 ABC radio’s Simon Marney.
Next tide is a high at 1047.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Saturday until midnight: Wind: NW 10/15 knots tending N/NE during the afternoon and freshening to N/NW 15/20 knots in the evening. Sea: about 1 metre rising to 1.5 metres in the evening. Swell: S/SE 1.5 to 2 metres decreasing.
Sunday: Wind: N/NW 15/20 knots reaching 20/25 knots at times tending W/NW in the afternoon. Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: SE about 1 metre.
Monday: Wind: W/SW 15/25 knots.

a couple of lines out of the S

Posted on July 24th, 2009 in South Coast.

New S swell, 2-3ft possibly bigger out in the open, nice condx early with a lite W breeze. Nothing too spectacular but worth a paddle if you’ve got time and desire (and like the odd straighthander). Rosco.

Still here…

Posted on July 24th, 2009 in South Carolina.

Nice waist high sets coming in through Saturday but a little choppy depending on the wind and local storms. The winds are predicted to be light and mostly SW, but they were over 16 mph by late Thursday. So again, the best times are very early morning before the higher than usual tide reaches peak or, cross you fingers for the afternoon and hope the winds do not screw you up.

Roberto is headed for a two week road trip (sorry all inland) so my next report will be Sunday august 9th.

Roberto

Running around: Curly, DY, Sth Narra

Posted on July 24th, 2009 in At large, Curl Curl, Dee Why, Gardens, South Narrabeen.

Hello Friends,

First stop this morning for me was at lovely south Curl Curl. Bitterly cold at 0700 and already well populated, it was nonetheless quite consistent and, as it turned out, the biggest spot I looked at. Set wave faces were well overhead and despite a kind of raw look, there were some longish rides being had. I filed a live report from the beach (see bottom right for link) and grabbed a few snaps. The dominant impression is that the swell is generally slow and not very intense. Certainly there are snappy sections now and again, but mostly it’s looking kinda soft to me.

Over the hill at Dee Why it was equally busy in the water as the pre-work crew grabbed a few wave memories to carry them through the day. When I first pulled up it looked as though the point might be kinda interesting, but after watching for awhile it turned out to be pretty slow and weak. Better for the fishy or mal I’d say.

The beachbreak was even less impressive. The swell looked promising on approach but most of the time the payoff was fat and full looking. I saw a couple fun-ish looking lefts come through and the light offshores were contributing in a positive way to the experience.

After filing another quick live report and snapping a few piccies, I was glad to get back into a warm car* and head for my final check out spot on this run – Edgecliff Blvd on Collaroy Plateau. The southern end of the Collaroy-Narrabeen stretch was showing some okay size too. Not nearly as consistent though as the more exposed Curly and Dee Why.

*reminds me… I’d advise taking a couple litres of hot water with ya this morning. You’ll really be looking forward to the warming jolt when you’re back at the car getting changed out of your wettie.

High tide is just on 1000 this morning and low will be at around 1540.

Outlook is for the swell to weaken as the day goes along and by tomorrow to be back into the waist high range.

Get out there if you can and enjoy!

Finally we have some waves

Posted on July 24th, 2009 in Manly.

It picked up yesterday arvo with some nice fun clean lines hitting the low tide banks before the brisk cold southerly change came threw and destroyed any hope you may have had. As we wake this morning its been blowing 15 knots from the West most of the night and as a result its clean although a little cold. Height wise its a little disappointing but still better than we have had all week so we should not really complain. Looks like a good day ahead to hit the water. Northern ends of the beaches will have the bigger waves but the wind may be an issue. Anyway best get yourselves out of bed and into the lineup like a few dozen other brave souls have already done.