Hello Friends,

Cloudy, grey and the first of a couple warm days for Sydney. Alas, the wave situation has not improved since yesterday. The metre or so of 9 second period SSE swell is producing knee to waist high sets at exposed spots such as North Curly. There were a few bods in the water and the wind was not a factor for the early, but the swell is quite inconsistent, so waiting around is the order of the morning.

Looking at this morning’s run of the forecast models reveals that the super computers are still showing short odds for a boost to energy levels on Wednesday There could be some 3 metre south swell with a useful 9-10sec period, but the wind is set to be onshore all day according to the Bureau. Protected south corners look to be the best bet at this stage.

Although the Wednesday pulse is expected to fade quickly, I’m hoping it won’t come back to the micro conditions of today (and tomorrow probably).

As always, we shall see…

Go well with your Monday!

TIDES: H @0600, L @1300

Weather Situation
A high pressure system north of New Zealand extends a ridge to southern Queensland, while another ridge lies over Bass Strait. Between these systems, a broad trough of low pressure lies across southern and central parts of the New South Wales coast. A southerly change is expected to push the trough north during Tuesday, with a ridge building across the south. This pattern then looks set to remain relatively unchanged through to the end of the week, when another high strengthens from the west and the next significant southerly change affects the region.

Forecast for Monday until midnight
Winds: East to southeasterly 5 to 10 knots tending east to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots around midday. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Easterly 1 metre tending southeasterly later. The chance of thunderstorms.

Forecast for Tuesday
Winds: Southwesterly 5 to 10 knots tending southerly up to 25 knots during the afternoon then tending south to southeasterly 20 to 30 knots by early evening. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing to 2 metres by early evening. Swell: Southerly about 1 metre tending easterly 1 metre late in the evening. The chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.

Forecast for Wednesday
Winds: South to southeasterly 10 to 20 knots tending east to southeasterly about 10 knots during the afternoon then tending east to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: Up to 2 metres decreasing to below 1 metre during the evening. Swell: Easterly 2 metres tending southerly about 2 metres from the morning.

Hello Friends,

Hazy sort of start to what is expected to be a warm Sunday. Swell continues its long, slow fade. It was glassy around 0800 this morning and every now and then a knee to waist high line would come in. There were a few people in the water as you might expect under the circumstances. The swell’s out of the SE now and averaging around a metre at sea. The primary period is 9 seconds but the MHL data shows some 11 second component in the mix.

You’ll want something rather buoyant today and it never hurts to paddle out with a relaxed attitude.

Outlook for the coming week isn’t too exciting, but the models are showing the possibility of a brief south pulse arriving on Wednesday. The Bureau says it’ll be a cloudy, showery day with east to SE onshores of around 15 kts. Thursday is set to be cloudy as well, but the winds are supposed to decrease so perhaps we’ll get something at south spots before the pulse fades.

I’m off to the city soon to join Simon Marnie and Rob Brander (aka Dr Rip) for a bit of surfy chat from around 1000 on ABC 702 on the AM band.

Have yourself a great Sunday!

TIDES: L @1200, H @1800

Weather Situation
A high pressure system over the southern Tasman Sea is moving east maintaining a ridge to New South Wales far north coast. A cold front will move across the southern Tasman Sea today bringing a weak southerly change to the southern half of the coast. Stronger southerly change id expected to move along NSW coast on Tuesday as another cold front crosses the southern Tasman Sea.

Forecast for Sunday until midnight
Winds: Northerly 10 to 20 knots tending northwest ahead of a southerly change 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon. Seas: Up to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 1 metre.

Forecast for Monday
Winds: East to southeasterly 5 to 10 knots tending east to northeasterly around midday. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Northeasterly 1 metre. The chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.

Forecast for Tuesday
Winds: Light winds tending westerly up to 10 knots during the morning ahead of a south to southwesterly change up to 15 knots during the afternoon. Winds tending southeasterly 15 to 20 knots during the evening. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres during the evening. Swell: Northeasterly 1 metre. The chance of thunderstorms offshore from midday.

A not quite faded south swell was still producing the odd lump of interest for a large crew scattered the length of Curl Curl beach. I grabbed the camera to see if I could find any snap-worthy moments as I started walking from the north end toward the middle of the beach. I did get a few pictures, but because the hit rate was pretty low, I decided to wrap things up after half an hour or so. If you were in the water then, you might want to have a look at the gallery (click the picture below), to see if I got any of your waves…

Driving a turn at Curly on Saturday morning

Hello Friends,

I was happily surprised to discover that my estimate for surf conditions this morning turned out to be incorrect. Although it’s only a metre out at sea, the period of the south swell we’ve had for the last few days has improved to almost 11 seconds. As a consequence anywhere with south exposure was picking up waist to shoulder high waves at first light. The models are pointing to a gradual decline in the energy levels through the day and by tomorrow the predictions are pointing to much shorter periods – and therefore near flat conditions.

The wind was not a factor early, but as the day goes along it’ll pick up from the north east and be pushing along at summer standard 15-20 kts this afternoon.

So, it looks like you should make a move earlier rather than later if you mean to get wet today. The outlook is for a run of small to flat days with a possible junky pulse mid week.

Gotta do the radio thing now!

TIDES: L @0930 H @1520

Weather Situation
A slow-moving high south of the Bight extends a ridge along the New South Wales coast. On Saturday the high is forecast to move across the Tasman Sea, while a broad trough approaches western New South Wales. This trough appears likely to bring a southerly change to southern half of the coast later on Sunday. The next major southerly change is likely to affect most of the coast in Tuesday.

Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds: Northeasterly 10 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing to 1.5 metres by early evening. Swell: Southeasterly 1 metre.

Forecast for Sunday
Winds: Northerly 10 to 20 knots tending west to northwesterly up to 15 knots during the morning ahead of a southwesterly change up to 10 knots in the afternoon. Winds tending northeast to southeasterly up to 10 knots in the evening. Seas: Up to 2 metres decreasing to below 1 metre around midday. Swell: Easterly 1 metre tending northeasterly in the afternoon and evening.

Forecast for Monday
Winds: East to southeasterly about 10 knots tending east to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Northeasterly 1 metre. The chance of thunderstorms from midday.

Went for a paddle at Dee Why point just before lunch. It was marginal to say the least but it’s so nice to be in the water at the moment. After getting out, I trundled over the hill to have a look at the mighty Curly. Shoulda gone out there I guess. Oh well. It wasn’t dramatically bigger, but the sets were producing the odd chest high face so it was better than most of what came through at the point. Plus, whilst busy enough, it was far from weekend crowd intensity given the smooth surface conditions and approachable little peaks around the place. I hope I’m not being a starry-eyed optimist, but I could swear there were a few more take-off zones than we’ve seen there of late…