Hello Friends,
Looking in the magic mirror from the other side of the planet, I can see that it’s another marginal looking morning for Sydney surfers. The MHL buoy is showing about 1.5 metres of 5 sec SSW wind bump as of 0900. Not good. Wind is S-SSW at 10-15kts on the coast. Again, not good.
But fret not, for Huey (apparently) has great things in store for the holiday weekend. If the forecasts are right, the swell should pick up from the east on Sunday and then ramp pretty quickly into the pumping range (2x overhead at standout spots?) from Mon-Tues. And thereafter we should have waves of some sort pretty much the rest of the week.
Here’s the forecast… (you’ll find more California postcards below it)
Weather Situation
A high pressure system east of Tasmania extends a ridge along the southern coast. A trough lies off the coast and is expected to weaken as the high to the east of Tasmania strengthens over the Tasman Sea. The next southerly change is due to arrive on the South Coast later on Friday, where it will weaken on Saturday. A tropical low on the northern Queensland coast is expected to move south over the next several days and may strengthen southeasterly winds on the New South Wales north coast over the Australia Day long weekend.
Forecast for Thursday until midnight
Winds
Southeast to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending east to southeasterly in the morning then tending east to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon.
Seas
Up to 1.5 metres.
Swell
Easterly 0.5 metres.
Weather
Isolated thunderstorms during the day.
Friday 25 January
Winds
Northeasterly 15 to 20 knots.
Seas
Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres later in the evening.
Swell
Easterly about 1 metre.
Saturday 26 January
Winds
Northeasterly 15 to 20 knots.
Seas
1 to 2 metres.
Swell
Easterly 1 to 2 metres.
Weather
The chance of thunderstorms during the evening.
Below: RS Puerto Rico reporter Bob and I surfed a metre high west swell with a period of about 12 seconds at a spot the map shows as Coal Oil Point in Isla Vista, but which locals know as Deveraux. Again, water exceedingly chilly (12c) for my Sydney steamer, and sets were inconsistent. But I jagged a few walls like those pictured below that went for 150-200m. Worth getting cold!
