April 2012 Most Popular, In Byron Bay Today.

That’s right folks it’s time for a most popular shots update, in Byron Bay today. As usual these are the photos that got requested from our server the most during that month. Now of course this can only mean one thing, yes we are still on holidays lazing around, doing as little as possible, and recharging the power cells in the old Bear bot. W will most likely put another best of update soon as April had some pretty tasty waves. Of course we will let you all know when we’re all charged up and out shooting live each day again, In Byron Bay Today.

Autumn is coming in

Hello Friends,

We have a pretty similar set up to yesterday morning, ie swell out of the east and light winds delivering smooth surface conditions on a still dropping tide. Being a Saturday, lots of folk were in the water from first light. With wave faces ranging from waist high on the little ones to shoulder high on the bombs at exposed spots, conditions are perfect for a fun little session – and big crowds.

According to the Bureau, you can wander down to the beach whenever it suits as conditions are set to stay like this pretty much all day. And, the tidal range isn’t going to change much either.

Tomorrow morning looks like a case of rinse and repeat. So really no excuses, you should get a wave this weekend!

Weather Situation
A high pressure system near New Zealand extends a ridge towards the northern New South Wales coast, maintaining southeast to northeast winds along much of the coast. This ridge will remain the dominant feature until the next southerly change reaches the south during Sunday.
Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds
Variable below 10 knots, becoming northeasterly 10 to 15 knots in the late afternoon.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Easterly 1.5 metres.
Sunday 1 April
Winds
Variable below 10 knots.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Easterly 1.5 metres.
Monday 2 April
Winds
South to southeasterly below 10 knots.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Easterly 1.5 metres.

Sunny Saturday small surf (very small)

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?

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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.

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…

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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!