Sunday looking very nice early

Hello Friends,

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!

Waves for the early risers

A Little Respect, In Byron Bay Today.

Now it was a rather glorious morning to say the least, sun was out, lines were reasonably clean and the crew were feeling well happy and mellow, in Byron Bay today. Then many sponsored pro Groms arrived in the bay. Now we got nothing Pro Groms, we got our fair share that live here and they are fine. But these guys were kind of different. Don’t know where they were from, or what their program was. But they brought a tonne of attitude and zero respect for anyone else in the water in the bay. So as much as I’d prefer not to, this must be said. Not cool behaviour guys, really not cool at all. Sure these kids were good, but hey we got local crew surf just as well or better, and they sure don’t behave like you guys did. Turning up at someone else’s home en masse and then proceeding to repeatedly burn and snake everyone else in the lineup is just plain lame. It’s not particularly good press for your sponsors either. So try to work with the crew when you visit next time, not against them. A little respect to the locals in the water goes a long way to making it all good for all concerned, In Byron Bay Today.

Smallness in Sydney & postcards from Cali

Hello Friends,

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?

***
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.

More postcards from Cali

Hello Friends,
At 0500 the Sydney MHL buoy was reporting a metre of north east wind swell with a period of just 6 seconds. Wind was N-NE at 5-10 kts. High tide’s about 0720 and it’s going to be 30 today with a chance of showers. The NE’r should be pretty stiff by close of play today (20-30kts), so there might be some late wind swell action at the usual spots.

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…)

Postcards from Cali

Just a few snaps to share from a couple days ago…

We were expecting a solid NW pulse to arrive at some point during the day, so we decided to wait for it at a place called Naples (west of Goleta). Unfortunately for us, the pulse only started to fill in solidly when we got out. Typical!

Still, we did manage to jag a few waist to shoulder high sets on the dropping tide.

One big issue at this and many other spots in Santa Barbara is the heavy kelp in the surf breaks. At low tide most rides are like having someone tap the breaks every few seconds, and if you hit a particularly big lump of the stuff you get thrown off the board. Once they get a couple big winter swells through, the heaviest weed will get ripped out and low tide will get a bit more surfable.

(Below: the setup as we hiked back out. Naples reefs are in the distance. To the left of the picture is a right-hander called Seals and further east from there are various other reefs and even a small point.

(Below: forerunner set wave lines into Naples)

(Below: there were a few forerunner sets, including this tidy one between Seals and Naples)

(Below: your webmaster on apparent collision course with a California Brown Pelican at Seals – pic by Roberto)

Extra puny tinyness with your tinyness?

Hello Friends,

Looks as though it’s much the same story both sides of the pond today. At daybreak the MHL buoy for Sydney was showing a 6 second period NE wind swell with an average height at sea of 1.5 metres. The NE’r was already up to 10 kts. It should be 15-20 kts by mid-morning and 20-25kts by this afternoon. There’s only a small change between the low tide at around 1000 and the high at 1540. Not that it’s likely to matter much. North corners and low expectations I’d say. Still, the water’s warmed up nicely (or at least it has out at the MHL buoy)… Should be a warm and sunny one for you in Sydney with a high of 28 on the forecast. Tomorrow will be warmer still and the wind is set to go NW. But there really isn’t much of interest showing in the surf forecast models. Indeed, on current reckoning it seems we can look forward to small and marginal conditions for another week at least…

****
This morning’s postcard is taken from the California Street surfcam in Ventura. Conditions, as you can see, are about as inconsequential as Sydney. Only the water is a helluva lot colder. However, the big winter swell I mentioned yesterday, should fill in from tomorrow… here’s hoping I have tales to share!

On current reckoning, there should be two big pulses. Tomorrow the call is for around 10 foot wave faces at exposed spots in southern California and up to 20-foot faces at places like Mavericks in central California.

Go well one and all!

Goin’ quiet

Hello Friends,

Light north breeze and a small, but not miniscule east wind swell for Sydney this morning. Dial the expectation-o-meter down pretty low and you should be able to talk yourself into a splash at your favourite beach break. Figure knee high to maybe waist on the bombs I’d say.

The Bureau sez: North to northeasterly 5 to 10 knots, increasing to 10 to 15 knots during the morning and 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon.

Tide’s low around 0845, so the incoming push might help a bit.

Looks from the forecasts as though the next week will be pretty quiet wave-wise for Sydney. Seems as if all the interesting systems are going to stay well clear of the swell windows.

….
Your postcards from California show Campus point today. We actually had some shoulder high sets yesterday, but it’s faded to knee high this morning, so not sure that I’ll get wet on what is for me the first day of 2012… however, in a couple days time we’re due for the first big swell of the winter season, so I hope to have something more interesting to share.

(Below) The top of Campus point (so called because it’s within the boundaries of the University of California at Santa Barbara) is the main surf zone. It mostly breaks during the autumn-winter months when the swell is out of the NW. There are a number of distinct peaks, so it spreads the often considerable crowds out.

(Below) Poles is the next distinct break down from the point at Campus. As you may be able to tell from the pic, it’s a well-defined reef that can peel for a hundred metres or more if the swell is big enough. Super fun on a mal, but good for short boards when it’s firing.

(Below) Looking down the point from Poles. On really big swells (only a handful of times in a season), you can pick up a wave from Poles and take it all the way down to the corner at Goleta beach park! Jelly legs material.

Have a good one and Happy New Year!

SE all day every day…

Hello Friends,

Could the endless SE’r be giving it up soon? According to this morning’s marine forecast for the Sydney region, it should go around to the NE this afternoon. Meanwhile, at 0500 the swell was 2m from the SE with an average period pushing up toward 10 seconds. Not a bad set of numbers that. Those SE spots will be busy again I bet. But maybe this arvo after the 1240 high tide and with the breeze coming around to the NE, there’ll be a few fun options around the place.

***

Meanwhile in southern California, we’re still waiting for the energy levels to perk up again.

This morning’s postcard is once again from California Street in Ventura (about 50 kms south of where I am in Santa Barbara).

There’s heaps of swell up north for places such as Santa Cruz, but down this way it’s another day of knee to waist high mal waves at places that are picking up the swell. The forecast models show a couple biggish pulses lining up though. With luck we’ll get into the head high plus range mid-next week…

Go well!

Another southerly day ahead

Hello Friends,

At 0510 wind in Sydney was a steady 15 kts from the south. And it looks set to stay around that level all day. Primary swell is around 2 metres from the ESE with an average period of 8 seconds. Tide’s coming in and will hit high around 1100. And it’s another partly cloudy day coming up with a 30% chance of rain and a high in the mid 20′s.

Not exactly the best recipe for a decent surf, but if you’re extra keen there should be something to flop around in.

According to the models, there should be swell for the next few days in Sydney, but that stupid south to SE wind regime is going to be in force as well.

***

Have a couple postcards from California for you this morning. The first was taken from a webcam at Ventura’s California St Surfers’ Point. Little WNW lines were giving the crowds something to mess with on their mals and SUPs.

The second pic was taken yesterday arvo as myself and three mates began the half hour walk back to our cars from a spot called Seals just west of Goleta. The tide was super low, and because they’ve yet to have a solid winter swell, the kelp was incredibly thick. Indeed, most rides ended when your board hit a particularly huge lump and you were thrown off. Really annoying because there were some clean and juicy chest to shoulder high sets and it was dead glassy.

Very sad news in the paper this morning that Sean Collins has died of a heart attack. The guy almost single-handedly transformed surf forecasting and with it the way we practice our sport. The obit is worth a read.

Go well one and all!