"Stay happy and you'll be perfectly fine" - Jack Norris

Waves around, quality not so much

Hello Friends,

Was hopeful for the wave prospects this morning. We definitely have swell. The MHL buoy 0600 data showed 2 metres at 9 seconds from 152-158° and wind was just stirring from the south when I looked at it between 0800 and 0845.
First stop was Long Reef where it seems the action on the bombies yesterday has faded so much that no one was in the water. The crew was down the beach near the lagoon entrance complex of banks. The pictures below make it look far more interesting than it really was. The reality is that very few were makeable at all and there didn’t seem to be any obvious peaks. Basically it was a crap shoot. If you happened to be in the right spot you could jag a couple of turns before having to straighten out. But mostly it looked like lots of work for minimal payoff. That said, there were head high faces on the bigger ones and some of the sections looked juicy.

The first turn was all there was to this wave at the lugga.
Old guys rule. The rider got another turn out of that one before it claimed him. Longy lugga, 0825

Hopped back in the car to go have a closer look at the Dee Why end of the beach… Although you can’t really tell it from the pics, the point was very crowded (20+) and surprisingly lumpy and sectiony. Catchable ones were infrequent for the numbers in the water, and most of them were little better than a couple turns finishing with a fading shoulder. As for the beach break, well it had similar size (head high on bigger faces) but it was shutdown land. Essentially unmakeable on 99% of them. Again, very disappointing.

So the Tuesday takeaway: you gotta be keen!

A tiny fraction of the crew
Rider didn’t make this section at the point
Moment of fun on another brief encounter at DY point
Clouds, sea and surfer, Dee Why

Weather Situation
A high pressure system over the southern Tasman Sea extends a ridge along the New South Wales coast while a trough over the northern Tasman Sea. This pattern is directing north to northeasterly winds over southern New South Wales waters and south to southeasterly winds over northern waters. As the trough weakens and the high shifts further east, winds throughout will tend north to northeasterly by the end of Wednesday. A trough associated with a Southern Ocean cold front is expected to bring a southerly change to southern waters on Thursday.

Forecast for Tuesday until midnight
Winds
Northeast to southeasterly about 10 knots.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
1st Swell
Southerly 1 to 1.5 metres, decreasing to around 1 metre by early evening.
2nd Swell
Easterly 1.5 metres.
Weather
Partly cloudy.
Wednesday 15 January
Winds
South to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots becoming northeasterly 15 to 20 knots in the late afternoon.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
1st Swell
Easterly around 1 metre.
2nd Swell
Southerly around 1 metre.
Weather
Partly cloudy.
Thursday 16 January
Winds
North to northeasterly 15 to 20 knots.
Seas
Around 1 metre, increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres offshore.
Swell
East to southeasterly around 1 metre, tending east to northeasterly 1 to 1.5 metres during the afternoon.
Weather
Partly cloudy. 50% chance of showers. The chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening.
Please be aware
Wind and wave forecasts are averages. Wind gusts can be 40 per cent stronger than the forecast, and stronger still in squalls and thunderstorms. Maximum waves can be twice the forecast height.
Nearby Coastal Waters

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