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.

Hello Friends,

As foretold by the models, surf prospects have diminished overnight from marginal to very marginal. Swell direction is SE but it’s only a metre or so out at sea and the power setting has drifted down to a weak 8 seconds or so. There really doesn’t seem to be much of anything showing at Dee Why, nor along the beach north from there toward No Mans.

There could be a few a little waist high sets to be found at more optimally exposed spots, so if you have time for a look around and you’re not too demanding, some small amusement may be waiting for you to find it.

Latest outlook for the week ahead is for more or less of the same through to around Saturday when it currently looks as though we might possibly get another south pulse. At least one of the riffs on the WAMs is showing quite long period (as in 15+sec) energy on the cards. Here’s hoping!

Have yourself a great day and go well with your plans.

TIDES: H @1210, L @1840
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Tuesday until midnight: Wind: Northerly 5 to 10 knots tending north to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots around midday then tending northerly 15 to 20 knots by early evening.Sea: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres by early evening.Swell: Southeasterly 1 metre.
Wednesday: Wind: Northwesterly 10 to 20 knots tending west to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon then tending west to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots later in the evening.Sea: Up to 1.5 metres.Swell: Easterly about 1 metre.
Thursday: Wind: South to southwesterly 5 to 15 knots tending southeasterly up to 10 knots during the morning then tending southerly up to 15 knots during the evening.

Hello Friends,

Special request if I may: are there any accompanists on the northern beaches with a spare hour on Sunday? If so, please drop me a line via the feedback link (I’ll reply to all responses this evening!)

The big south swell peaked yesterday at nearly 5 metres off Sydney. As this morning got started, it was closer to the 2.5 metre mark and the downward trend is likely to continue all day. The incoming tide this morning is going to be the best shot for most (south) spots.

Outlook for tomorrow is looking pretty marginal. Should be some little ones still showing up out of the south at the magnet spots but I wouldn’t be amazed if it was getting into the flatness range by lunchtime and then staying there for Sydney surfers until Tuesday when, on current reckoning, we could see another little 1-2m south pulse.

Get out there and enjoy your Saturday!

TIDES: H @ 1120, L @1730
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Saturday until midnight: Wind: West to northwesterly about 10 knots tending north to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots during the morning then increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon.Sea: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres during the afternoon then increasing to 2 metres by early evening.Swell: Southerly about 2 metres. Dangerous surf conditions, waves breaking dangerously close inshore, easing early.
Sunday: Wind: West to northwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending westerly 20 to 30 knots by early evening.Sea: 1 to 2 metres increasing to 3 metres by early evening.Swell: Southeasterly about 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: Westerly 20 to 30 knots.

Hello Friends,

Went for a quick splash after seeing a clean glassy peak at Northy this morning. Sap job! Turned out it was a 1 in 50 clean one. Pretty much all the rest were shutdowns, some of which as I discovered on my first take off were murderous in their intent! Plus the water coming out of the lagoon was making for lots of chilly spots in the lineup.

Just quietly I’m liking the look of the models for Wednesday morning. East to NE swell spots could offer some fun options if the predictions turn out to be right. And we’re set to have offshores with it. It’s not looking like being particularly big, but exposed places could be producing the odd shoulder to head high set if we get lucky.

After I got out, I wandered down to look at Longy and discovered there was quite a crew messing about in the occasional peaks (lots of shutdowns there too) just north of no man’s. Set up the camera and the mighty 650 to do a bit of shooting. The shots are currently uploading to my galleries, so I should have a link up soon.

FWIW, I’m still puzzling over how to let people know what I’m doing when I’m shooting. As I would, they probably assume I’m taking pictures of mates or somebody famous. In fact, I’m trying to get shots of anybody who gets a reasonable wave or even a decent section. So, if you see me on the beach pointing a camera in your direction, there’s an excellent chance I’m taking your picture!

Hello Friends,

The south pulse that filled in from late yesterday is still here this morning. However it seems to have peaked in the early morning hours at around the three metre mark. It’ll probably be around two metres by mid-morning and looks set to continue to gradually decrease. Average period is close to the 9 second mark, so south swell exposed spots should be showing fun size head high to head high plus sets. Wind is SW and set to fade toward lunch before swinging south for the afternoon session.

Reasonable number of bods in the water at Dee Why this morning, but not insane for a Saturday. Bit of a wait between the chest to shoulder high plus sets and lots of shutting down going on in the beachies.

I’ll be getting out and about with a camera later, so with luck should have a few more shots to share in due course.

General outlook isn’t too hopeless for the week ahead but this morning could be the peak in terms of size and quality. With luck though, there’ll be a reason to get in the water if you’re keen pretty much right through to midweek thanks to what currently looks to be a steady supply of 1-1.5m south to south east swell – at least if the WAMs are to be believed.

Get out there and have yourself a great day.

TIDES: L @1110, H @1745
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Saturday until midnight: Wind: South to southwesterly 20 to 25 knots decreasing to 15 to 20 knots around midday then tending southerly 10 to 15 knots later in the evening.Sea: 1 to 2 metres decreasing to below 1 metre later in the evening.Swell: Southerly 1.5 metres.
Sunday: Wind: Southwesterly 5 to 10 knots becoming light around midday then tending north to northeasterly up to 10 knots during the afternoon.Sea: Below 1 metre.Swell: Southerly 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: North to northwesterly 5 to 10 knots tending north to northeasterly during the afternoon then becoming northeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the evening.

After holding off until around 1300, the southerly started to fill in along Sydney’s beaches. As the day ends, the swell is still around the two metre mark at sea with an average period of 9 seconds. It’s SE and we’re getting some okay size sets every now and then thanks to some rogue 11 second period stuff. According to the Bureau the energy should stick around overnight and with luck tomorrow will be something of a repeat of today with light winds for the early and a couple metres of 8-9 sec S-SE swell.

I got in the water at the point this morning and as a consequence will have some water snaps to post as a gallery later. Set waves were kinda fun, but we had to wait around a bit and there was a pretty fair crowd on it. I put this down to the fact that Dee Why was probably about the only reasonable wave from Manly to Mona Vale. Anyway, after I got out I did a bit more shooting with a Canon 5D MkII and the 100-400mm lens that I have on test at the moment. A real nice bit of kit, but then it’d want to be for the $5k price tag. When I get the pic files all processed, I’ll load them to a gallery.

Hope you’ve had a great week and are looking forward to a top old weekend!

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: Southerly 10 to 20 knots, decreasing to 10 to 15 knots later.Sea: Up to 1.5 metres.Swell: Southeasterly 2 metres.
Saturday: Wind: Southerly 10 to 15 knots tending south to southwesterly up to 10 knots during the morning then tending south to southeasterly by early evening.Sea: Below 1 metre.Swell: Southeasterly about 2 metres.
Sunday: Wind: West to southwesterly 5 to 10 knots becoming southwesterly 10 to 15 knots later in the evening.
Monday: Wind: South to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots tending west to southwesterly up to 10 knots during the afternoon then tending west to northwesterly during the evening.

Hello Friends,

Well, that was fun. Drove from Hay to home in a day. As we set out I said to the family, “I wonder where we’ll see the first car with boards on top…” Turned out to be way earlier than I expected. Instead of somewhere near Sydney, I spotted a couple mals atop a serious looking long distance surf mobile in a tiny little town called Weethale. Between there and about West Wyalong we were only seeing a car every 10 minutes, so I was impressed. But here’s the kicker, we did not see any more boards after that. Not a one.

So anyway, how’s the outlook for tomorrow? Seems as though we can expect the westerly pattern to last but the models reckon the swell will die out overnight. Clearly there was more going on this morning than had looked like happening when I checked the situation last night. There was a lot more east than predicted so that, plus the 10s period, kicked some useful looking options in judging by the pics Doug posted from this morning at Curly. The longer period stuff is still showing up north at Coffs, but down south where the Bureau and the models say we should be getting stuff tomorrow, it’s looking very small. I’m punting on near flatness…

As usual under such circumstances, I hope to be proven spectacularly wrong. I’m hanging out to get wet after a week away from waves!

Go well and catchya tomorrow morning.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: North to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots becoming northwesterly 15 to 20 knots by early evening.Sea: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 2 metres offshore by early evening.Swell: Southeasterly 1 to 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: West to northwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending westerly 10 to 15 knots during the morning then tending southwesterly during the afternoon. Winds southerly 20 to 25 knots later in the evening.Sea: Below 1.5 metres rising up to 2.5 metres offshore in the evening.Swell: East to southeast to 1 metre.
Tuesday: Wind: South to southwesterly 20 to 30 knots decreasing to 10 to 20 knots during the afternoon.
Wednesday: Wind: South to southwesterly 15 to 25 knots, increasing to 20 to 30 knots around dawn.