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OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT – Share with Vantage Agency (film & TV) and BuyBuyGone (internet store). Since moving into our new offices in Warriewood (Sydney) we have found we have...
A southerly arrived early and laid waste to most surf options on Monday, but the east swell still had some legs and there were waves to be had at the Bower and Collaroy. So, I grabbed...
After weeks of dribble, Sydney surfers finally got a few fun waves thanks to a couple metres of east swell on a sunny Sunday. I surfed it myself and shot pictures at three different...
Surf Photos of You. I was enjoying a cap down at Dee Why and decided to get the camera and shoot Dee Why Point for an hour or so between 11am and 12.10pm. 3 – 4 foot+. (5...
Surf Photos of You::: If you were surfing at South Narrabeen this morning between 8am – 9am near the South Narrabeen Surf Club and the Marquesas between 8 – 9 am on Saturday...
Posts in Santa Barbara
Postcard from Cali (one last time) & waves for Sydney
Posted on May 6th, 2011 in At large, California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
Flying day for yours truly. At around 3pm Sydney time my Delta 777 flight will be climbing away from LA as it heads for Oz. Tomorrow morning I’ll be back in the land of warm water, and I hope, a wave or two to clear the jet-lagged brain.
It looks as though the punchy south swell of this morning will have faded quite a bit by tomorrow, but with luck there should still be surfable options around the place. As I typed this out at a little after 0500 Sydney time, the wind reports were showing westerly. But the forecast is for another bout of stiff SW in the morning which should then decrease as the day goes along. From the shape of the forecasts, it looks as though the swell will be overhead early but by dark be into the head to chest high range on sets at the exposed spots. Saturday could be waist to chest with the odd head high bomb.
One last set of piccies for ya from southern California. I took these yesterday when Roberto, pal Guy and I wandered around looking for something to ride mals on. There were some tiny SW sets around the place as we travelled south of Rincon toward Ventura. We ended up splashing around at a popular longboarding spot (sort of a Collaroy set up) called Mondos. Mondos is just down from Pitas point which can be quite a good wave during winter time. Anyway, it was extremely small and very slow, but we all got a few. Water was cold of course, but modern wetsuits made all the difference. In true California style when we got out of the water we headed off to a mexican restaurant for the usual post surfing fare and beers. Perfecto!
Catchya maybe later on Saturday!
Weather Situation
A high pressure system centred over Bass Strait extends a broad ridge over New South Wales while a low develops over the Tasman Sea. Fresh southerly airstream along the coast will ease on Friday as a ridge weakens. Winds will briefly turn westerly from late Saturday ahead of a trough expected on Sunday and Monday. Fresh to strong south to southwest airstream is likely to redevelop early next week in a wake of the trough with a possible low deepening just off New South Wales coast.
Forecast for Friday until midnight
Winds: South to southwesterly 20 to 25 knots decreasing to 15 to 20 knots around midday. Seas: 1.5 to 2 metres. Swell: Southerly 2 to 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Saturday
Winds: South to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots decreasing to 10 to 15 knots around dawn then tending west to southwesterly up to 10 knots around midday. Winds tending west to northwesterly up to 10 knots later in the evening. Seas: Up to 1.5 metres decreasing to below 1 metre by early evening. Swell: Southerly about 2 metres.
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: West to northwesterly 5 to 15 knots becoming westerly 15 to 20 knots during the morning then tending west to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing up to 1.5 metres during the morning. Swell: Southeasterly 1.5 metres.
Sydney looks interesting from over here…
Posted on May 2nd, 2011 in California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
Surf prospects this morning look promising for Sydneysiders. The MHL buoy is still down but the Bureau is calling for solid east swell and light winds early. The models are showing it hitting maximum around the middle of the day (when the tide will be low), but it looks as though the pulse should carry on through tomorrow too. Huey may have another round of energy for Thursday too, although the models are somewhat contradictory. The forecast says on again off again showers all week so it would appear that la nina hasn’t relaxed its grip just yet.
Here’s a snap of the swell from the top of Flight Deck in south Narrabeen (WRL cam) at 0600.
Sadly your correspondent’s chances of getting wet again before heading back home are not too fabulous. All the models for this end of the southern California bight are looking pretty bleak. Bah. Weather’s nice though.
Go well with your day!
Weather Situation in Sydney
A deepening trough over the northern Tasman Sea and a high pressure ridge in the south combine to direct south to southeast airstream for most of New South Wales coast. As the trough further deepens and a ridge weakens, winds will strengthen along the North Coast today. Winds are expected to tend south to southwesterly throughout from Monday onwards with a weak trough from the west followed by a broad ridge building over the state by mid-week.
Forecast for Monday until midnight
Winds: South to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Easterly 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Tuesday
Winds: South to southwesterly 5 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots by early evening then becoming southwesterly 15 to 25 knots later in the evening. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres by early evening then increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres later in the evening. Swell: Easterly 3 metres decreasing to 2 metres in the afternoon and evening. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Wednesday
Winds: South to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres increasing to 2 metres during the morning. Swell: Southeasterly 2 metres decreasing to 1.5 metres from midday.
Postcard from Cali & a thought or two about Sunday in Sydney
Posted on May 1st, 2011 in California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
MHL buoy for Sydney is off the air, but looking at the other data, I’d be guessing it’s around a couple metres from the east at about 9 seconds. Combine that with the WSW winds showing on the automatic weather station data, and I’d say there’d have to be something in the way of a wave. And, from the shape of the models you’re looking at another three days of this before it starts calming down and dropping back to micro just in time for my return – gnash, gnash. Aside from the on again off again showers, it looks from this side of the planet as though there could be some fun early in the new week particularly.
Meanwhile, I can once again report that spring ordinariness is dominating the Santa Barbara region. I took brother-in-law Bob down to Leadbetter point to catch a few cold tiny waves. Gotta say my nice new wetty was a wise investment because the only cold I experienced was my hands. And the water is a vicco 12 or so. Waves were weak, short period windswell in the ankle to knee high range. Folks on SUPs were having all the fun, but your correspondent managed to jag the set of the day (a massive waist high). Hey, at least I got wet! And that’s never a bad thing is it?
Go well one and all and get lots of waves.
Today’s postcard is a snap of Roberto himself waiting for something, anything to come his way…
Weather Situation
A deepening trough over the northern Tasman Sea and a high pressure ridge in the south combine to direct south to southeast airstream for most of New South Wales coast. As the trough further deepens and a ridge weakens, winds will strengthen along the North Coast on Sunday. Winds are expected to tend south to southwesterly throughout from Monday onwards with a weak trough from the west followed by a broad ridge building over the state by mid-week.
Forecast for Sunday until midnight
Winds: Southerly 10 to 15 knots. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Easterly 2 to 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Monday
Winds: South to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots becoming southerly 10 to 15 knots later in the evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Tuesday
Winds: South to southwesterly 5 to 15 knots becoming southwesterly up to 30 knots during the evening. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 2 metres during the evening. Swell: Easterly 2 to 3 metres. The chance of thunderstorms. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Postcard from Cali + Sat in Sydney thoughts
Posted on April 30th, 2011 in At large, California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
Hmmm… ESE 2m @ 10sec and light WSW winds at 0630 in Sydney… that’s not a bad combo on paper. But a look at the radar tells another story; a steady supply of showers is streaming in from the SE, so those winds down at the surface aren’t likely to blow in the current favourable direction for much longer. The Goat will be along on 702 ABC radio at around 0725, so I’ll be tuning in then to find out what the absolute latest word is. Given the metrics though, I’m not overly hopeful.
Here in Santa Barbara, Huey continues to treat surfers with disregard. When I checked the surf situation this morning, the water was around the 10-degree mark and the waves were still too small for surfin’. We had strong winds yesterday, so that’s why it’s even colder in the ocean. It did make for a clear day though and I got out of the house and went for a little drive north from here to an area called Gaviota. In fact, I drove a short distance up the road that leads into the fabled Hollister Ranch. Here’s a snap of the friendly sign posted about a km from the gate…
After taking this snap, I turned around to look back down the coast toward Santa Barbara (about 40 km away). See that lift toward the end of the pier in the foreground of the picture? That’s what you use to lower your boat when you’re making a Ranch run. On a good swell there will be boats lining up to use the lift, but on this day as you can see from the utter lack of activity on the beach, there was absolutely nothin’!
Enjoy your Saturday!
Weather Situation in Sydney
A strong high pressure system over the southeastern Tasman Sea extends a ridge to northwestern New South Wales and a low pressure system is developing over the Coral Sea. During Saturday and Sunday the low will move south across the eastern Tasman Sea as the high moves to the southeast.
Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds: Southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 2 to 3 metres. The chance of thunderstorms from the late morning until evening, mainly offshore. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres by early evening. Swell: Easterly 2 to 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Monday
Winds: South to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots decreasing to 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Postcard from Cali (& Sydney surf thoughts)
Posted on April 29th, 2011 in California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
Seems likely that most Sydney surfers will, like most southern California surfers, be giving it a miss today. The fates are ganging up against northern beaches waterpersons in particular, what with the onshores, rain and the dead whale at Newport potentially luring lots of sharks inshore. The Goat’s call from yesterday is lining up – sadly – with the indicators this morning. Swell is a couple metres out of the SSE but it hardly matters given the other conditions.
On this side of the ditch the weather is quite warm, the skies are blue and unlike the eastern part of the USA, there’s no prospect of a twister suddenly appearing. Sadly, the cold pacific (this morning’s water temp at Santa Barbara pier is up a nudge to 14C) is looking pretty feeble. Even exposed places such as California Street in Ventura (about 45 min south of Santa Barbara) are barely registering anything remotely surfable. That said, I might go scout around anyway…
Here’s a shot of the inside at C-Street. This is roughly 30 percent of the entire break by the way.
Have yourself a good one!
Weather Situation in Sydney
A strong high pressure system over the southwestern Tasman Sea extends a ridge to New South Wales north coast and a low pressure system is developing over the Coral Sea. During Saturday and Sunday the low will move over the central Tasman Sea as the high moves towards New Zealand maintaining the ridge to the south
and central coasts.
Forecast for Friday until midnight
Winds: Southeasterly 10 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon. Seas: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 metres. The chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Saturday
Winds: Southeasterly 10 to 20 knots. Seas: Up to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 2 metres. The chance of thunderstorms. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres during the evening. Swell: Easterly 2 to 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Postcard from Cali + Sydney surf thoughts
Posted on April 28th, 2011 in At large, California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
Tide’s low a little after 1100 in Sydney and the wind’s supposed to be out of the SE by then. It was showing as NE at North Head when I started tapping this out at a little after 0700 – which is kinda weird since the radar’s showing a steady line of rain events streaming in from the SE. Swell was showing as a couple metres from the SE with an average period of 8 seconds. My guess is you’ll want to be pretty damn keen given all that. The Bureau’s got surf warnings posted for the next few days, but according to the charts, it looks like being SE and more SE through Saturday. But after that… well, if the forecast models turn out to have anything to do with reality, you should be able to make out a green glow off to the NE around Monday. That will be coming from me as I radiate envy at Sydneysiders’ offshore and clean surf conditions – and warm water. It looks like a classic east coast low will form up and fire the good stuff straight at ya.
Meanwhile, over here in so-cal, we’re still waiting for something like waves in the Santa Barbara region. About the only thing that’s happened since I got here is that the water has plunged back down to around 12 degrees thanks to a bout of NW wind. That would be annoying but bearable if only we had some waves. Instead, we’re looking at dribbly junk that wouldn’t be out of place on a lake. Grumble, grumble.
Here’s a snap from the webcam located at Campus Point to give you an idea of how ordinary it is in Santa Barbara this afternoon.
Have a good one!
Weather Situation in Sydney
A strong high pressure system over the southwestern Tasman Sea extends a ridge to New South Wales north coast and a low pressure system is deepening over the Coral Sea. During Saturday and Sunday the low will move over the central Tasman Sea as the high moves towards New Zealand maintaining the ridge to the south and central coasts.
Forecast for Thursday until midnight
Winds: Southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 to 3 metres. Swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Friday
Winds: Southeasterly 10 to 15 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Saturday
Winds: East to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots becoming southeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 2 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Postcard from Cali (+ reflections on Sydney)
Posted on April 27th, 2011 in At large, California, Santa Barbara.
Hello Friends,
Your humble servant has returned to the world of powerpoints and internet connections after a sojourn in the remote desert of SE California. And what do I see? 2 metres of SE swell showing on the MHL buoy off Sydney, that’s what. Period is ranging from a windswelly 8 seconds to a punchy 12 sec. A quick check of the latest coastal observations reveals that the wind is pushing along at 15-20 kts from the SSE at most of Sydney’s coastal weather stations. And from the look of the marine forecast, it’s going to keep that nonsense up all day. Indeed, the situation seems to be SE right through to the weekend. Even so, my teeth are gnashing because there should be building swell sufficient I would guess to get into some of the protected corners. From the look of the models, there should be solid se swell into Monday when the wind just might get more around to the SW… ya lucky pups!
Meanwhile here in California it’s early spring, so the water’s still around the 14 mark in Santa Barbara county and the prevailing NW wind is pushing up a tiny gutless and essentially largely unsurfable little windswell. Pretty typical conditions for this time of year. It’s still possible to get the kind of long period west to NW swell that lights up the points, but the odds are steadily decreasing.
Scroll down below the marine forecast for a few snaps…
Weather Situation
A high pressure system is centred over the southern Tasman Sea, where it is forecast to remain through to next weekend. This high, in association with a deepening trough to the north of New Zealand, is expected to direct a persistent southeasterly airstream onto the New South Wales coast through to the weekend.
Forecast for Wednesday until midnight
Winds: Southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly about 2 metres.
Forecast for Thursday
Winds: Southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 to 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore in the afternoon and evening.
Forecast for Friday
Winds: East to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southeasterly 2 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Postcard from Cali (+ Sydney surf thoughts)
Posted on April 22nd, 2011 in At large, California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
One of the advantages of being in California is that our daylight hours start 7 hours before Sydney at this time of year. So yours truly can get an extremely leisurely start on looking at forecast stuff whilst still being extra early with the report (it’s 0400 as I start writing). 
I’d say Sydney surfers are going to be somewhat underwhelmed by this morning’s offerings. Swell, such as it isn’t, is coming from the SSE. It’s about 9 seconds apart which would be okay if it had a little size. But it doesn’t. Average height showing on the MHL Sydney buoy is around the half metre mark. As a consequence I very much doubt if anyone will be catching a wave today.
If you’re near a wireless tomorrow morning, tune in to ABC 702 at a little before 0730 because the mighty Goat himself will be examining the entrails and divining the surf future therefrom. It’s unlikely that I’ll be able to listen in because I’ll be in the high desert country of SE California and our Granite Mountains cabin doesn’t have mains power, let alone a net connection.
Here’s a webcam shot from this morning of a surf spot in Ventura called C-Street. It’s one of those spots that picks up anything going, but because of its excellent exposure, it also cops any wind. It’s a long right reef/point set up and it’ll hold waves with faces into the 4 metre range (or bigger). But today it’s struggling to get above waist high. Water temp is around the 14 mark.
SYDNEY Marine from BoM
Forecast for Friday
Winds: West to southwesterly 10 to 20 knots. Seas: Up to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 0.5 metres tending southeasterly from midday.
Forecast for Saturday
Winds: South to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending south to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots by early evening. Seas: Up to 1.5 metres decreasing to below 1 metre later during the afternoon. Swell: Southerly 1 metre.
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: Southeasterly 5 to 10 knots. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southeasterly about 1 metre.
Postcard: SoCal (+ Syd summary)
Posted on April 21st, 2011 in At large, California, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
After a quick and unusually smooth 13 hr flight, I’m jetlagged in California. I’ll try to make myself useful from afar. So, according to the latest from the MHL buoy, Sydney’s looking at around a metre of SSE swell with an average period of 10 seconds and light westerly wind as of about 0750. Next tide is a high around 1045. Sadly, that combo is not likely to be producing much of note. South exposed spots might get the odd waist high set I’d guess.
Meanwhile, over on this side of the pond the situation in southern California is similarly uninspiring. Tis the season of fog. The skies were grey and the surf was weak and small – but not flat. I saw people chasing waist high slo-mo rollers at Trancas and Malibu as we headed north on PCH. About the biggest was at County Line where every now and then a chest high set would move slowly in through a lightly wind textured sea. I took a couple pics for you to add to the postcard collection.
Have yourself a good one!
Weather Situation
A high pressure system over the Tasman Sea is slowly moving east. A weak southerly change on the south coast, gradually extending to the north coast by Thursday night. Winds are expected to freshen from the west to southwest on Friday ahead of another southerly change over the weekend.Forecast for Thursday until midnight
Winds: West to southwesterly about 10 knots tending south to southwesterly during the afternoon then tending west to northwesterly later in the evening. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southeasterly about 1 metre. Isolated thunderstorms offshore this morning and afternoon.Forecast for Friday
Winds: West to southwesterly 10 to 20 knots. Seas: Below 1 metre increasing up to 1.5 metres around dawn. Swell: Southerly 0.5 metres.Forecast for Saturday
Winds: South to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots tending east to southeasterly up to 10 knots during the afternoon. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres decreasing to below 1 metre during the morning. Swell: Southerly about 0.5 metres.
heat is on in southern California
Posted on October 18th, 2009 in California, Postcard, Santa Barbara.Hello Friends,
Looks as though Sydney should have southerly conditions this morning, at 0545 there was 10-15kt of south wind and the swell was an into the useful range 2 metres at 9 seconds apart from the south. Semi-protected south corners ought to have at least something rideable. Should clear up as the day goes along and the wind is set to swing through the easterly quarters to the NE this afternoon late.
Looks as though this is as big as it gets for then next week. The models are showing a very brief long period pulse around Tuesday, so you never know, it might get interesting for a few hours at least…
A morning shower or two, chiefly near the coast. Fine, partly cloudy
afternoon. Light to moderate southwest winds tending southeast, then
northeast in the evening.
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: SW/SE 10/15 knots, tending E/NE 5/10 knots in the evening.Sea: about 1 metre. Swell: S/SE 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: NW to 10 knots, tending NE 10/15 knots in the afternoon.Sea: to 1 metre. Swell: S/SE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NW/NE 10 knots, freshening to 15/20 knots from NE during afternoon.
Straight outta SoCal
Got some fun little west swell waves at Pitas yesterday. As the tide dropped, the top of the kilometre long right point started to fire up with some zippery waist to chest high plus energy. I personally scored a number of 200+ metre rides and I saw quite a few that were up to twice as far. Not super crowded either. The weird thing is that although it’s now well into autumn, the temperatures are close to the height of summer. At some places it was up to 38 yesterday.
Here’s a snap I took from the water…
Pitas section about to standup and hone for a couple hundred metres.