Posts in Surf Reports
Dull and choppy looking this morning
Posted on September 3rd, 2010 in Dee Why.Hello Friends,
Sydney’s beaches are in for a pretty ordinary old day from the look of things. The ocean’s choppy and messy but there is a bit more of a line than yesterday and as a consequence a few bods are in the water chasing waist high lumps of junkiness. With low tide at around 0830 and a high around 1520, the optimal time for a lot of spots should be late morning. Unfortunately, the already dodgy wind situation is only going to get dodgier as the wind picks up a bit more and works around through the easterly quarters from the present SE to the NE. Sounds like a recipe for messiness all day long, but with a slight hope that semi-protected NE corners might possibly be worth consideration late in the day.
As for the long range outlook, I like the look of the Goat’s latest prognostications. The current run of the models is pretty supportive of his estimates too. I’ll have a look at the prospects tomorrow morning ahead of my usual 0730 702 ABC gig.
Have yourself a top old day!
The Bureau’s Friday morning Sydney forecast
Weather Situation
A high near Tasmania will move to the Tasman Sea today allowing winds to gradually tend to the east to northeast. A low pressure system is expected to deepen over South Australia today. The low should deepen further on Saturday and move southeast towards Tasmania with winds along the NSW coast becoming strong to gale force. The low will then move quickly into the southern Tasman Sea on Sunday allowing winds to gradually ease.
Forecast for Friday until midnightWinds: South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots tending easterly during the day then east to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots by early evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres later in the evening. Swell: Southerly 0.5 to 1.5 metres.
Forecast for SaturdayWinds: North to northeasterly 20 to 30 knots. Seas: 2 to 3 metres. Swell: Southerly about 2 metres decreasing to 1 metre late in the evening.
Forecast for SundayWinds: Northwesterly 20 to 30 knots tending west to northwesterly 15 to 20 knots during the morning then tending westerly up to 15 knots during the afternoon. Winds tending west to southwesterly up to 20 knots during the evening. Seas: Up to 3 metres decreasing below 2 metres during the morning. Swell: Easterly 2 metres tending southeasterly during the evening.


Sharkcifica (Linda Mar)
Posted on September 3rd, 2010 in California, Half Moon Bay, Surf Sessions.Darren was already in the water south of Taco Bell with just a few others when I arrived, and I saw him get a nice shoulder-high left. When I said I was regretting that I'd left my gloves in the car, he assured me (correctly) that my hands would numb up in a few minutes. After a short chat, I excused myself and paddled to the kiddie-pool end of the beach at Boat Docks; I needed smaller waves to knock the kook out of my shortboarding. There was no one else around initially, and I couldn't help thinking about the shark attack on a sea lion a few days ago, just outside the lineup right there in Pacifica. Nearby surfers had seen a lot of thrashing with bloody water thrown into the air, reportedly an 18-25 foot great white shark violently taking her lunch. (Yes, 18-25 feet! Several news organizations reported this statement completely uncritically, while my fast Wiki search revealed that if true, this was one of the largest sharks ever. Doesn't the media do even the most basic fact-checking anymore?!)As I paddled alone across opaque waters still darkish in the new day, fingertips brushing seaweed, my shark-riddled thoughts turned to a dream I had last night, of coming to Linda Mar to surf but finding it infested with dozens of sharks, jumping and roiling the water, and hurling themselves out of the ocean to snap at people on the beach. When I sprinted away from the snapping jaws of an 18-25 footer, I woke up and looked at the alarm clock: almost time to get up to drive to Linda Mar for dawn patrol. On actual arrival, I saw no sharks, and took this as proof that there were none (as I must or I would have to stay on the beach). Fortunately, it seems many of the usual hordes haven't put the death of the sea lion behind them; the crowds stayed light as the sun rose in the sky.
Interestingly, Surfline's best board for today looks rather like the one I took out. I've been riding my 8'3" Magic hybrid longboard almost exclusively since I got it last December, and it's quite a switch dropping straight to my 5'8" Xanadu Rocky hybrid shortboard. My experience this morning was almost like starting over on the shortboard, but with an accelerated learning curve. At first I was a bit tippy just sitting in the lineup, my duck-dives were ineffectual, and my pop-ups were horrible, sloppy and too far back on the board. But soon I was catching whitewater and standing for milliseconds, then getting into the wave closer to the peak and riding a little longer. By the end, I managed a decent short ride. Yes!
With nothing on offer this weekend but more short-period windswell, I'm planning to concentrate on getting up to speed with the shortboard to be ready for winter. I think Magic has honed my surfing skills, but it's time to get back to driving a sports car. Zoom, zoom!
Surfline: 2-3 ft+ with fair conditions. Clean, peaky lines with some scattered, workable corners. Occasional slightly larger sets. Patchy coastal fog with light winds. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.6 ft at 9.1 s NW / WIND WAVE: 1.3 ft at 3.8 s WNW / WVHT: 6.9 ft / APD: 6.9 s / MWD: 315° / 07:00a PDT; (Met) WSPD: 8 kts / GST: 10 kts / WDIR: 310.0° / ATMP: 52.7° F / WTMP: 55.4° F / PRES: 1010.5 hPa / PTDY: +0.8 hPa / 06:50a PDT.
Wind, Chop and slop.
Posted on September 3rd, 2010 in Long Reef.Long Reef 8am; The wind is gusting from ESE at around 10 knots causing the conditions to be extremely sloppy. 1 – 2 foot but with the wind an increase in size should be expected. Sorry surfers, this is it for the day. Good day for…. something else.
Enthusiasms, In Byron Bay Today.
Posted on September 3rd, 2010 in Byron.
Despite the lack of form, the warm spring weather mixed with some crystal clear water and a few small but opportunistic lumpy bits of wind swell. Had the local crew enthusiastically dissecting whatever was on offer, in Byron Bay today. Spring can do that to you, especially when it’s been a cold winter. Then all of sudden it’s like Huey flicks a switch and it’s warm and sunny in the bay. Suddenly a surf you would look twice at, can fill a bloke with enthusiasms, In Byron Bay Today.
Warm but very small
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 in Dee Why.Hello Friends,
Another day of littleness up and down the coast of NSW. Dee Why was showing nothing substantial this morning under grey skies. The Sydney MHL buoy is detecting barely half a metre of 7 second period SE windswell. There is some 13 sec component in amongst it, but I can’t see any sign of larger stuff.
It’s not looking too promising for any improvement to the wave situation today in the Sydney region. There is some hope for just barely marginal waves tomorrow morning at south swell spots and then maybe an option or two on Saturday if we get some long period stuff as is being predicted for our region by some interpretations of the latest WAM data.
This monring’s WAMs are projecting the aforementioned little uptick on Saturday, followed by a dip on Sunday then another minor upward bump late Monday into Tuesday. But at this stage there doesn’t look like being anything much above the chest to shoulder high range at exposed spots over the coming 4 to 5 days…
Go well folks!
The BoM says:
Weather Situation
A high pressure system over the northern Tasman Sea will move slowly to the east over the next couple of days. A trough and associated southerly change has weakened in the north. A second trough is expected to move along the coast late Thursday and Friday with an increase in the southerly winds associated. A low pressure system is expected to deepen over South Australia on Friday as another high pressure system moves into the southern Tasman Sea. The low should deepen further on Saturday and move southeast towards Tasmania with winds along the NSW coast becoming strong to gale force.
Forecast for Thursday until midnightWinds: Southerly 5 to 10 knots becoming light during the morning then tending southerly up to 15 knots during the afternoon. Winds increasing to southerly 15 to 20 knots by early evening. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres by early evening. Swell: Southerly about 1 metre. The chance of thunderstorms during this afternoon.
Forecast for FridayWinds: South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots tending east to northeasterly during the afternoon. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southerly about 1 metre.
Forecast for SaturdayWinds: Northeasterly 20 to 25 knots tending north to northeasterly 25 to 35 knots during the morning. Seas: 1.5 to 2 metres increasing to 2 to 3 metres during the morning then increasing to 4 metres during the afternoon. Swell: Southeasterly about 2 metres tending easterly 1.5 metres during the evening.

The Goat’s Surf Forecast
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 in Goat's Forecast.Surf Forecast issued Thursday 2 September 2010: Seven day outlook for Sydney:
Coming up Saturday! …courtesy of a fresh Noreaster… Hang on to your tuque…
Friday: about 1 metre South East.
Saturday: I’d say around 2-3 metres North East.
Sunday: something similar, maybe slightly smaller.
Monday: in the 1-2 metre range South East.
Tuesday: ditto.
Wednesday: 1-2 metres East South East.
Thursday: about 1 metre East South East.
Water temp is a cool 17-18.
In case you didn’t see…
Eliza Kate Baker
Posted by: goat on August 31st, 2010
Born 9.45am North Shore Private 3.13 kg
Mum and baby doing well. Both healthy.
Bruce and Belinda very happy.
Sister for Josh. Another cousin for Jasmine.
Third grandchild for The Goat!
And… good story in Pittwater Life about Avalon Beach SLSC’s upcoming 85th… The kind of club that every surf club should be J. New members always welcome.
http://www.pittwaterlife.com.au/current_g.html
(that should say ‘700’ members).
Weather from the Bureau…
Forecast for the rest of Thursday
Cloudy. Isolated showers. Winds southerly averaging up to 20 km/h.
City Centre
Shower or two.
Chance of any rainfall:
40%
Chance of no rainfall:
60%
Penrith
Shower or two.
Chance of any rainfall:
40%
Chance of no rainfall:
60%
Forecast for Friday
Cloudy. Scattered showers. Winds northeast to southeasterly averaging up to 30 km/h.
City Centre
Few showers.
Min
13
Max
18
Chance of any rainfall:
70%
Chance of no rainfall:
30%
Rainfall:
2 to 5 mm
Penrith
Few showers.
Min
11
Max
17
Chance of any rainfall:
80%
Chance of no rainfall:
20%
Rainfall:
3 to 8 mm
Around Sydney
Liverpool
Min
9
Max
17
Parramatta
Min
11
Max
17
Terrey Hills
Min
12
Max
16
Campbelltown
Min
9
Max
16
Richmond
Min
10
Max
17
Bondi
Min
15
Max
17
Fire Danger: Low to Moderate [0-11]
UV Alert from 9:30 am to 2:20 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 5 [Moderate]
Forecast for Saturday
Cloudy. Rain until evening. Winds northeasterly averaging up to 30 km/h tending northeast to northwesterly up to 50 km/h around dawn.
City Centre
Rain. Windy.
Min
15
Max
19
Penrith
Rain.
Min
13
Max
19
Forecast for Sunday
Partly cloudy. Winds west to northwesterly averaging up to 35 km/h tending westerly and light by early evening.
City Centre
Partly cloudy.
Min
13
Max
21
Penrith
Partly cloudy.
Min
11
Max
21
Forecast for Monday
Partly cloudy. Isolated showers from the late morning. Winds west to southwesterly averaging up to 25 km/h tending southeast to southwesterly up to 20 km/h around midday.
City Centre
Shower or two.
Min
11
Max
18
Penrith
Shower or two.
Min
8
Max
20
Forecast for Tuesday
Partly cloudy. Isolated showers during the morning. Winds south to southwesterly averaging up to 25 km/h.
City Centre
Shower or two clearing.
Min
10
Max
18
Penrith
Shower or two clearing.
Min
7
Max
19
Forecast for Wednesday
Becoming cloudy. Light winds.
City Centre
Partly cloudy.
Min
11
Max
19
Penrith
Partly cloudy.
Min
8
Max
21
Forecast for Thursday
Partly cloudy. Winds north to northwesterly averaging 10 to 20 km/h tending north to northeasterly up to 25 km/h during the afternoon.
City Centre
Partly cloudy.
Min
11
Max
21
Penrith
Partly cloudy.
Min
8
Max
23
Flat… whats new.
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 in Curl Curl, Manly.Not much to report this morning at Queenscliff or South Curly. Low cloud cover and very small surf. 1 foot. Low tide 7.21am. Wind very light and variable but from the southern quarters. According to the BOM rain hanging around the south down near Wollongong (7.30am). Enjoy your day with a surfing mag or book.
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 in Central Coast, Surf Reports.
Showers and mild on the Central Coast this Thursday morning. The swell is smooth and micro-small at 0 – 0.5 feet from the southeast. There is a light to moderate west southwest breeze. Low tide at 0720 and high tide around 1410. Local barometer is 1005 Kpa it is 15 degrees and 98% humidity. Have a good one.
Spring Has Sprung, In Byron Bay Today.
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 in Byron.
That’s right folks winter is officially over and spring has sprung in Byron Bay today. True to form Huey dished up some warm weather, strong northerly winds and a few small, lumpy but fun little peaks around the open side. Spring in the bay is anyone’s guess weather wise. It can be summery one minute and cold and wintery the next. About the only given at this time of year is the winds and the whales. You can bet we’ll see plenty of whales, and not matter what direction the wind blows from although northerly is pretty safe bet. You can bet it’ll blow hard most days. That’s just Huey’s way for spring on the North Coast, In Byron Bay Today.
How keen are ya?
Posted on September 1st, 2010 in Big Picture, Dee Why.Hello Friends,
Dull skies as the first of September shakes out the kinks and gets going. The BoM says it’ll get cloudier too and by this evening there could be some rain in the mix. There’s almost no energy in the ocean off Sydney at the moment. And unsurprisingly, nothing is showing at Dee Why. According to the latest from the MHL Sydney buoy, it’s around half a metre from the east at about 7 seconds. If it’s any consolation, the other buoys up and down the east coast are basically showing the same thing.
Scanning the current run of the WAMs and the various interpretations of the data, it’s looking as though we’re in for more microness until around Saturday. At that point we might see a little improvement as a small SE pulse arrives. The models are predicting that there will be a dip around Sunday and another small pulse for Monday.
It’s the first day of spring, so I guess we shouldn’t really be terribly surprised at the lacklustre outlook. Tis the season of ordinariness boys and girls. Ah welll…
Might as well keep on smilin’ eh?
Have a top old day!

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: Northwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending west to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon then tending south to southwesterly about 10 knots later in the evening.Sea: Up to 1.5 metres.Swell: Easterly about 1 metre.
Thursday: Wind: Southerly 5 to 10 knots becoming light during the morning then tending south to southeasterly up to 10 knots later in the evening.Sea: Below 1 metre.Swell: Easterly about 1 metre.
Friday: Wind: South to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots tending easterly during the afternoon then tending east to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots during the evening.


Weekend warriors weren’t put off by the somewhat junky conditions mid-morning at No Mans and Long Reef on Sunday 29 August. Sets were into the shoulder high range and there were...
Saturday morning saw a couple metres of south swell with a period of about 10 seconds lighting up beaches around Sydney. South Narrabeen was looking tasty early with offshore conditions...
What a great weekend! So what if Huey didn’t deliver as expected – the sun shone, the wind blew offshore and there were waves! I burnt a bit of petrol cruising round...

