Hello Friends,

Looks as though we have a little ESE windswell this morning with the odd longer period set mixed in. Winds were light at 0700 and the outlook is for them to move around to the NE as we head toward noon. As the pic shows, there are at least occasional chest to shoulder high waves.

From the look of the latest forecast data, the swell energy will continue to fade toward a flat weekend. If you can get out this morning, I’d do it. That said, there should be waist high stuff through the week, so don’t feel too desperate!

Might get out and about for a look around if I can this morning. Naturally I’ll update if I do.

Go well with your day!

Tides: H @0600, L @1300
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Tuesday until midnight: Wind: NE/NW 10/15 knots, becoming NE 13/18 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres.Swell: E 1 to 1.5 metres.
Wednesday: Wind: N/NW 10/15 knots early, becoming NE 13/18 knots. Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: E/NE 1 metre.
Thursday: Wind: N/NE increasing to 15/25 knots.
Forecast for Tuesday
Chance of a shower or two, chiefly morning. Sunny periods. Light
winds early, tending moderate east to northeasterly, fresh at times
near the coast in the afternoon.

Hello Friends

Didja get waves this weekend? They were definitely around, although the quality wasn’t uniformly good. This morning the conditions are not too attractive but there is some energy left. At 0800 the NE’r was around 15 kts and the swell was looking smaller than yesterday. The Bureau says it’s around the two metre mark from the NE. Period looks to be down somewhat but the MHL data is off the air right now, so I don’t have an objective number to share. I’d guess it was about 8-9 seconds.

The models project a steady decline toward very small by the end of the week. This morning looks to be as big as it gets for as far forward as the forecasts go (Saturday).

With luck it will be relatively slow and we’ll still have energy of some sort through to around Wednesday morning. If we’re talking head high on the bombs today, it could be chest high on the biggest ones by then.

Going fearlessly into the realms of wild speculation, I note that the current run of WAM projections, show what might be another easterly fetch beginning to intensify late in the week to the NW of NZ. It was a pattern like this that lead to the current extended run of easterly swell. If it does play out in similar fashion, then we might be seeing the effects toward the middle of next week. Lotta ifs and buts lined up there, so don’t hold me to it!

I posted some pictures from Manly yesterday here and I’ll have some more to share later from Collaroy and way south Narrabeen as well. If you missed it, there are three more galleries of Curly, Northy and Dee Why here from last week as well.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Monday until midnight: Wind: E/NE 8/13 knots, increasing to 15/20 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 2 metres.Swell: NE about 2 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NE 8/13 knots.Sea: about 1 metre.Swell: E/NE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Wednesday: Wind: NW/NE 5/15 knots becoming NE 10/20 knots later.

Hello Friends,

Despite the gloom, went out and did a bit of shooting today to see if I could immortalize a few of the hardy weekend warrior crew. Will be putting up galleries later once all the images are processed.

As the day winds up, the ocean is still grey and the skies greyer still. The breeze is a steady 12-15 kts out of the S to SSE, so the surface is still pretty messy and fairly lumpy. However, the swell is still pushing along at a reasonable size. The MHL buoy is down, but I’d guess it was probably in the 2.5 metre range and still mainly SE. Wave faces on the bomb sets at Dee Why looked to be into the head high plus range.

As you can see from the pics, I shot for awhile down near Clarke St Collaroy. There were some very crunchy sets coming in and a few of them were overhead. Quality was variable, but there was the odd clean face and makeable section to be had from the generally lumpy and shutting down conditions. Certainly it didn’t take me long to shoot a hundred or so frames.

After sorting out a spot of bother with my car (battery died), I went down to Collaroy to check out the action north of the pipe. If anything, the sets were breaking in even shallower water. The bodyboarders seemed to be getting more than the standups. It was fun to shoot from the pipe, but the light was pretty ordinary and the water looked very suss.

Ducked home to change memory cards and batteries and then headed down to Manly to see if any of the banks were working. Again, quality was not noteworthy but in amongst the heaving lumpiness there were the occasional clean walls for lucky punters who happened to be in the right position. As at the other spots, the water quality looked very dodgy. Sadly, it rained heavily a couple times, so I had to give up shooting. Oh well.

Tomorrow the wind’s supposed to swing NE and the Bureau says the swell will be out of the east at 1.5-2 metres. It didn’t look too east as we ran out of light this evening, but be that as it may, then we should have a little something around tomorrow for the early. The showers could still be a factor, so we’re probably in for another grey morning.

Tuesday the weather is supposed to fine up, but the swell is probably going to be smaller again. With luck it won’t be too tiny to surf.

Have yourself a top old Sunday evening and catchya tomorrow.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: SE/NE 15/20 knots.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: E/NE about 2 metres. Chance thunderstorm.
Monday: Wind: NE 10/15 knots, increasing to 15/20 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 2 metres.Swell: NE 1.5 to 2 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NE 5/15 knots.
Wednesday: Wind: NE 5/15 knots becoming 10/20 knots later.

Hello Friends,

Usual leisurely start for yours truly this morning. The steady rain on the roof lulled me back to dreamland a few times… meanwhile, the keen were chasing chest to head high sets in the murky waters of Dee Why. Wind is out of the SSW at around 10-15kts and the south swell is averaging about 3 metres on a period of close to 9 seconds. Those are juicy settings so hence the crowds.

It looks as though the swell will stick around through today and should still be doing something tomorrow morning – if we’re lucky.

The current projections from the WAMs is for the energy levels to fade away as the week goes along and by Friday it could be back to near flat again as the monsoon trough simmers down.

(All that rain means that the ocean will continue to be heavily polluted by stormwater runoff. Whadya bet there will be lots of busy GPs by this time next week as all those ear, nose and throat cases come in. You’d have rocks in your head to get in on a day like this if you’ve got any unhealed cuts or scrapes.)

I’m gonna watch and wait myself, but whatever you decide, have yourself a safe and good one!

Tides: L @1040, H @1620
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: S/SW 15/20 knots decreasing then turning E/NE 15/20 knots.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: E/NE about 2 metres. Chance thunderstorms
Monday: Wind: NE 10/15 knots.Sea: about 1 metre.Swell: NE 1.5 to 2 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NE 5/15 knots.
Forecast for Sunday
Rain periods, heavy at times. Chance thunderstorm. Light to moderate south to southeast winds, fresh near the coast tending moderate to fresh east to northeast in the afternoon.

Hello Friends,

Sydney awoke to a powering southerly and lowering grey skies with the odd shower. At 0645 the wind was 20-30kts and the ocean was not looking too attractive. There were a few bods in at Dee Why point, but the quality was not impressive. The MHL buoy shows that east swell is still averaging around the 2.5 metre mark out at sea, but the average period has slipped a few cogs to a marginal 8 seconds.

Obviously the plan will be to check your favourite southerly spot this morning. But I wouldn’t be expecting those 10 foot faces on the bombs. Undoubtedly a few will still be left in the mix, but overall we’re talking smaller for the average ones.

FWIW, last night the Bureau was calling for the southerly to back off during the day and to swing NE. Now the outlook is for a decrease in wind speed later (but it’s not going to glass off), but for the southerly to stay in place. You can expect rain periods too.

Outlook for the week ahead is so-so. From the models it would appear that we’re in for a steady decline over the next 48 hours. With luck we’ll have a little energy on Monday morning, but right now the rest of the week is shaping up to be fairly marginal to just about flat.

Aw well. Get out there and have yourself a top old Saturday. FYI, I’ll be posting three galleries of pics I shot yesterday at Curly, Northy and Dee Why.

TIDES: L @0920, H @1500
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Saturday until midnight: Wind: S winds 20/25 knots decreasing to SE 15/20 knots later.Sea: 1.5 to 2.5 metres.Swell: E/NE 2 to 2.5 metres. Chance thunderstorms.
Sunday: Wind: NE 15/20 knots.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: E/NE about 2 metres. Chance thunderstorms
Monday: Wind: NE 10/20 knots.

Hello Friends,

The schedule allowed your humble webmaster to slip down to the beach with camera and board today. Went out at a rather crowded north Curly following a tip from a mate.

It wasn’t the best for me and my fish, but if you had something longer, there were a few sections to be had. Weirdly, the lefts were a hoax when I was out. Lots of folks and highly variable quality tipped me into photographer mode.

I shot for half an hour or so and saw a couple nice waves. If you were out then, you might want to check out the gallery I’ll be posting soon.

Grabbed a coffee and caught up with a mate, then wandered up to Northy for a look. It was better than earlier, but pretty busy and sectioning quite a bit. Getting caught behind was common place. Got a few more snaps but wasn’t really tempted into the water because the swell while big on sets, is mostly fairly junky and not that crunchy.

My hope is that it will tidy up a little more and be fun lots of places tomorrow for the early. A south change is expected, so I may be letting hope get the better of me on this one. That said, it still looks as though there should be energy through to Sunday morning.

Have yourself a great evening and catchya later…

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: N/NE 15/20 knots, increasing to 20/25 knots in the evening, chiefly offshore.Sea: 1.5 to 2.5 metres.Swell: E/NE about 2 metres. Chance thunderstorms.
Saturday: Wind: Early S/SE change 10/15 knots, turning E/NE 15/20 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 2 metresSwell: E/NE about 2 metres. Chance thunderstorms.
Sunday: Wind: NE 15/20 knots.
Monday: Wind: NE 10/20 knots.

Hello Friends,

Went out for a look around once I had the light. The numbers look up okay – east swell, 3 metres at an average of 9 seconds – and the wind’s not going too hard. But… the surface is still lumpy, the swell isn’t lining up too well at all. Despite the energy levels, I didn’t really see too many waves being caught.

It says something about the conditions that the usually busy Northy had only a few diehards in for the early. There was one tow-in team looking around for something to pull into near Gardens. But it was slim pickings and after finding the wave in my picture, they headed off to pastures new.

Collaroy had little lines but no takers. It looks very flabby indeed and the water (as everywhere else) is pretty ordinary looking.

Longy, well, the picture says it all. Not the swell direction for it.

Dee Why beach looked basically unsurfable, but there were a few in at the point. I had to wait quite awhile before someone managed to jag one. It went for a few seconds and faded out. Not exactly all time.

From the shape of the various interpretations of the WAMs, it looks as though we should still have about the same size and energy levels through today. The prospect is for a gradual decline, probably beginning overnight – when we’re also due to get a little south change. The change isn’t supposed to persist, so maybe we could get lucky tomorrow morning in Sydney.

The fetch that created this swell looks as though it will dissipate this weekend, so next week is not currently looking too flash. Indeed, it could be back to summertime flatness by Wednesday.

Have yourself a top old day and go well!

Tides: L @0810, H @1400
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: N/NE 15/20 knots, increasing to 20/25 knots in the evening.Sea: 1.5 to 2.5 metres.Swell: E/NE about 2 metres. Chance thunderstorms.
Saturday: Wind: Early S change 10/15 knots, turning E/NE 10/15 knots in the afternoon, then increasing to 15/20 knots later.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres Swell: E/NE about 2 metres. chance thunderstorms.
Sunday: Wind: NE 10/20 knots.

Hello Friends,

Last night as we went in for our monthly Surfrider meeting, a group of us stood in the late evening light watching a very crowded but juicy Northy. At some point in the previous four hours it had gone from weak and gutless to reasonably intense. Our hopes for the morning were high.

This morning’s swell settings are very similar to last night’s (a couple metres of east windswell at about 9 seconds apart). But… there’s nothing like the quality this morning.

Wind is back around to the east (it was more north yesterday evening), so that’s not helping matters. The Bureau is calling for the wind to settle into the NE, so with luck we’ll see an improvement in the semi-exposed north corners when that happens. The Bureau and the models agree that we should see the swell ramp up through the day, so we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Outlook for the week ahead is basically for waves of some sort through the weekend. Depending on the interpretation, what happens after that is a bit more up for grabs. Some riffs on the data reckon the east swell could still be lighting spots up with surf options through Tuesday morning. After that it looks less hopeful for at least a few days. The monsoon trough seems to have fired up now, so I’m hoping it won’t be a long wait for another dose of fun.

Have yourself a good one, and if you’re going in for a wave, consider wearing something with long sleeves. The bluebottle count was off the richter last night.

Tides: L @0700, H @1300
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Thursday until midnight: Wind: E/NE 10/15 knots, increasing to NE 15/20 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: E 2.5 to 3.5 metres, breaking dangerously close inshore. Chance thunderstorms.
Friday: Wind: N/NE 10/15 knots early, increasing to 15/20 knots. Sea: around 1 metre, rising to 1 to 2 metres. Swell: E/NE 2 to 3 metres. Chance thunderstorms.
Saturday: Wind: Early S change 15/20 knots, turning E/NE 10/20 knots later.

Hello Friends,

Went out for a look around this afternoon, but didn’t see anything to tempt me into the water. However, I got a few pictures to share.

First stop was Mona Vale where I thought I might see if anything was happening at the basin. My hunch was right and there were a few bodyboarders risking life and limb taking off in the shories. Nothing there for us standups. And it really wasn’t all that consistent. Fairly long waits for ones worth taking off on. Still, managed to get a shot of a guy pulling into an ugly one…

Whizzed back south past a completely messy and basically unsurfable Warriewood. Had a look at Northy and down toward Gardens. Not many people out at the former, but there was a good reason. It was really soft and fluffy and weak, despite the okay size. One or two people managed to jag okay sets, but for every one of those there were three really ordinary gutless lumps caught. And as at the Basin, it wasn’t that consistent. The picture below makes it look way better than it was…

From there I headed on to have a look at the old Collaroy. Sadly it was so dire that so far as I could tell, no one was in the water. More weak, scudding messiness basically.

My final stop was at Longy where I spotted a few folks messing about in the beachy inside from the bombies. Quality was on a par with Northy, so nothing much to write home about. Again, if you were in the right spot and got lucky, you could get a bit of a section, but the waits were plentiful. From the look of the beach, there must be a fair number of bluebottles about too…

I didn’t drive down to look at Dee Why, but through the telephoto it looked as though there was a small crowd catching the odd makeable one…

Latest from the Bureau
Thr tides: L @0700, H @1300
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: E/SE 15/20 knots reaching 20/25 knots offshore tending NE in the afternoon.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres. Swell: E/SE 2 to 3 metres.
Thursday: Wind: E/NE 10/15 knots freshening to NE 15/20 knots later in the afternoon and evening.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: E’ly 2 to 3 metres.
Friday: Wind: N/NE 10/20 knots.

Hello Friends,

Pretty much as expected. Wind’s 15-20 kts out of the east, so although there’s plenty of east windswell, it’s very torn up and junky. Had a look at both the Collaroy-Narrabeen and Longy-Dee Why stretches and can report that I didn’t see anything to get excited about.

The swell itself doesn’t seem to have much power given the size (period’s only around 8 seconds) either.

Outlook is for the wind to stay out of the ESE and to pick up as the day goes along, so I don’t think there’s much hope for an improvement to conditions.

The Bureau says the wind will go more east to NE tomorrow, so that should lead to an improvement as the places that work in those conditions begin to light up.

Water quality is going to be an issue because we should be getting showery weather right across the period. And if the last few days are anything to go by, I’d say we’ll probably have a few of our little translucent blue pals in the water as well.

The more optimistic interpretations of the models are showing the swell sticking around into Monday, but pulsing up and down in quality. The latest projection is for good conditions for both Saturday and Sunday morning at east swell spots.

Have yourself a top old day!

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: E/SE 15/20 knots reaching 20/25 knots offshore tending NE in the afternoon.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres. Swell: E/SE 2 to 3 metres.
Thursday: Wind: E/NE 10/15 knots freshening to NE 15/20 knots later in the afternoon and evening.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: E’ly 2 to 3 metres.
Friday: Wind: N/NE 10/20 knots.