Can you get out there this morning? Good! The east swell has filled in overnight and it’s not looking too shabby. It’s about 2 metres at sea with a juicy average period of 10 seconds.  Wind was light early, but should come in from the NE at 15-20kts later.

So, earlier will see more options, high tide (0615) not withstanding. Should be sunny all day too.

I’m off to look for shooting and surfing opportunities. Hope to come back with a gallery or two later, but we’ll see…

Go well!

Hello Friends,

Let’s get straight to the point. There are little waves to be had this morning and with luck they’ll stick around through lunch time.

Size is around the waist high mark but there are definitely a few bigger ones when the peaks focus. There were lots of said peaks on the Collaroy-Narrabeen stretch too. Dee Why wasn’t looking as productive, but the wave hunters were on it. I reckon there should be lots of options around the place, so aside from the distinctly woofy looking water, the settings are pretty good.

Wind is set to remain light but mainly onshore through the day.

Tide was high at 0530 so it’ll be low around 1220.

Tell you what though, tomorrow and Monday are currently looking pretty promising I have to say. The swell modelling overnight is calling for the waves to be out of the east at a couple metres with a very handy 12 second period. And we might even have sunny skies! What a concept.

Then Monday morning for the early, the swell should push up another notch or so and the winds will be around to the NE but light early ahead of a vigorous looking south change. Have an early night of it I’d say.

Have a good one!

Forecast for Saturday until midnight

Winds

Becoming easterly 5 to 10 knots tending northeasterly later in the evening.

Seas

Below 1 metre.

Swell

Easterly 1.5 metres.

Sunday 5 February

Winds

Northerly and light becoming northeasterly up to 15 knots around midday then increasing to 15 to 20 knots by early evening.

Seas

Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres by early evening.

Swell

Easterly about 2 metres.

Not a great seat of numbers as Monday got started in Sydney. The MHL buoy is showing around a metre and a half of 6 second period east wind junk. A southerly seems to be hitting down south and high tide is about 0800. A chance of showers too. Swell’s supposed to go around to the south and maybe come up a touch. Maybe late this afternoon when the wind is supposed to back off a bit?

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Today’s postcards are of an obscure, rarely breaking spot in Santa Barbara proper. The swell has just about faded away to nothing now…

(above) Looking NW from Thousand Steps beach access toward Lighthouse point. On a good day there are waves all along this stretch as various reefs light up on the right tide.

(above) Close up of Lighthouse point. The swell needs to be solid two metres and from just the right angle to make this work – which means it can be surfable only a few times a year.

Yesterday I came back from a three day visit to the Central Coast region of California. We stayed in a cute little seaside town called Cayucos and explored around the area for both surf and sightseeing. There was heaps of swell, but sadly, this region really doesn’t do much with winter swell directions. The coast is wild and rocky with only a few fickle spots. About the best of the options was at Cayucos Pier where there was a one to two-turn right hander. Anyway, here are a few more snaps…

(Below: Cayucos Pier a couple days ago, note surfer left about to jump in)

(Below: how they get in at Cayucos Pier)

(Below: taking a left into the Cayucos Pier…)

(Below: Central Coast hoax peak. There are horrible rocks just inside of where this peak was breaking.)

(Below: El Capitan point, Santa Barbara county. 50 people in the water, 30 on the land. The bell is one of many that mark El Camino Real.)

(Below: El Cap was not quite doing it. Dodgy sideshore and not perfect swell direction. But you get the idea…)