Hello Friends,

Another round of showers and so-so conditions for Sydney this morning. The ocean looks kinda junky and small which figures because the average period has dropped to around the 8 second mark. Swell is still coming from the SE and is averaging around 1.5 metres.

This morning’s run of the WAMs is looking okay for the Sydney region. If things play out as expected, we should see ENE facing stretches benefiting from a little pulse out of that direction starting late tonight and continuing for 36-48 hours. The bigger spots could be seeing head high sets on the bombs, although at this stage it looks as though the average heights will be closer to chest high.

We have a gale warning in the Sydney region today, but the call is for the rain to clear away by early tomorrow morning. From Wednesday onward, the Bureau is expecting mainly sunny weather. Throw in a generally NW to W wind regime, and it’s looking good.

Go well with your day!

TIDES: H @0810, L @1350
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Gale Warning.
Tuesday until midnight: Wind: North to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots increasing to 20 to 30 knots during the morning and reaching 35 knots offshore at times in the afternoon.Sea: 2 to 3 metres reaching 3.5 metres offshore.Swell: Southeasterly 1 to 1.5 metres. Chance thunderstorm.
Wednesday: Wind: Northwesterly 15 to 25 knots reaching 30 knots offshore, tending west to northwesterly 15 to 25 knots around dawn and reaching 30 knots offshore in the evening.Sea: 1.5 to 2.5 metres reaching 3 metres offshore at times.Swell: Northeasterly 2 to 3 metres.
Thursday: Wind: West to northwesterly 20 to 25 knots tending west to southwesterly 20 to 30 knots during the evening.

Hello Friends,

Gee, I hope to be proven wrong, but this winter seems to be following the pattern of last year, ie, great start but fizzling into ordinariness by August. I’ve got to wait for the rain to lift before I can get a snap, but from the way it looked through the murk, not much of anything is happening down at Dee Why. Couldn’t see anyone in the water and it seemed to be for good reason as there really ain’t much energy.

Had an errand this morning, so I turned it into a surf check – as you do. Actually it was more sort of a dribble check. Surface conditions were pretty clean under the showery grey skies at around 0900. There were a couple bods waiting around at Mona Vale and another half dozen at the other end of the beach at Warriewood. Set faces were into the chest high range, but the waves were very weak looking thanks to the 8 second period. Since the waves are coming from the south, Northy wasn’t too attractive. You know it’s ordinary when there’s only one person in the water.

I’m going to keep an eye on it today though because despite the general gloominess of the swell forecast models, the MHL buoy off Batemans Bay is showing a slight upward trend in the period. It’s around the 9 second mark down there as opposed to 8 in Sydney. Only a small thing… but ya never know…

There’s an interesting low off NZ on the charts, so I think there’s a possibility that some long period energy could get to the Sydney region in maybe 36-48 hours. Friday for the early could be a goer… if it happens, we should be able to see the energy hit the MHL Eden and Batemans Bay buoys first.

Fingers are crossed…

Go well with your day!

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: Southerly 15 to 20 knots tending south to southwesterly 20 to 25 knots by early evening.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: Southerly 1.5 metres. Isolated thunderstorms.
Thursday: Wind: South to southwesterly 20 to 25 knots tending southerly 15 to 20 knots by early evening.Sea: 1 to 2 metres.Swell: Southeasterly about 1.5 metres.
Friday: Wind: Southerly 15 to 20 knots decreasing to 10 to 15 knots during the evening.

Hello Friends,

Yesterday’s energy levels seem to have faded back a fair amount overnight. Swell’s still out of the SE, but it’s now only about a metre at sea. The 8 second average period hasn’t changed, but the slightly longer period component evident yesterday has disappeared from the data.

All of which adds up to rather minor conditions. If you can find something in the waist high range, I reckon you’ll be doing very well in Sydney.

Outlook is for a couple days of marginal conditions before we get a small perk on Weds into the waist to chest high range. The models are still calling for something a bit bigger late in the week. How much bigger? Into the head high plus range if we’re lucky according to some riffs on the data…

And the weather today in Sydney? Here’s the latest from the Australian Bureau of Meterology

Forecast for Monday
Early fog and mist patches in the west. Cloud increasing with light
rain developing during the afternoon. Light to moderate northwest to
northeast winds.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Monday until midnight: Wind: Light and variable winds tending northeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon and evening.Sea: to about 1 metre.Swell: South to southeasterly 1 to 1.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: Northwest to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Easterly 1 to 1.5 metres.
Wednesday: Wind: West to southwesterly winds 10 to 15 knots ahead of an east to southeasterly change 20 to 30 knots.

Hello Friends,

At first glance I thought we were into flatness this morning. But after watching it for awhile and seeing a couple waist high plus set waves up the beach from Dee Why SLSC, I’m thinking there might be a little something for the patient at south exposed stretches.

According to the MHL data, the average height of swell at sea is a bit better than 1.5 metres. However, the average period is only 7 seconds. Fortunately there’s also some 10 sec component in there – hence the sets. From the shape of the data down at south, we might see a small improvement in the average period (it’s up to 9 seconds at Eden for instance).

There isn’t much wind to start with, but as the showers clear away, the SE’r will gradually shut down the places with the best exposure to the swell. So this morning’s probably about as good as it gets for Sydneysiders. From here forward looks like marginal to nearly flat through the weekend and beyond.

Have yourself a great day!

TIDES:  L @0630, H @1230

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: South to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots.Sea: about 1 metre.Swell: South to southeasterly about 1.5 metres.
Thursday: Wind: South to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots tending east to northeasterly in the evening.Sea: about 1 metre. Swell: Southeasterly 1 to 1.5 metres.
Friday: Wind: West to southwesterly 5 to 15 knots decreasing below 10 knots during the morning then tending south to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon.

Jumped in the water at Longy with a mate on our mals. Biggest thing I caught was maybe chest high on the takeoff. Water is still warm and, with so little activity lately, quite clear as well. Not many people bothering this morning so basically just us two sharing little peelers.

Had one of those “Dad can you drive me to… ” moments that I subsequently enlarged to a surf check. Stopped by Curly to see what the little swell was doing. It was bigger than Dee Why, but the quality was strictly so-so. A bit junky with a light sideshore, but that would be okay if there was also a little more energy. Waves were occasionally into the chest high plus range for the reasonable size crowd, but they were just sort of flabby and gutless looking. Which kinda makes sense given the average period was around the 8-9 second mark.

The good news is that the latest run of data from the MHL buoys shows the period ramping up pretty steeply in the last three hours… so maybe by this afternoon it’ll start to turn into something more interesting…

Hello Friends,

Yesterday’s little south pulse started fading and swinging east at around lunch time. This morning sees the average height at sea around the metre mark and the all important power setting at a marginal 8s. Dee Why beach was showing a waist high line at around seven this morning. There were a few folks in amongst them too.

According to the Bureau we’re in for a warm day (29) and a summery NE wind regime (ie light early, 15-20 kts by lunch). So, open stretches early, north corners later.

Get out there and enjoy if you can because it looks as though we’re in for another run of nearly flat conditions around our region over the next few days.

TIDES: L @1220 H @1825

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: N/NE 10/15 knots increasing to 15/20 knots in the afternoon. Winds inshore N/NW 5/10 knots during the morning.Sea: 1 to 2 metres, although below 1 metre inshore during the morning. Swell: E/SE 1 to 1.5 metres tending E.
Saturday: Wind: early S’ly change 15/20 knots, becoming SE/NE 13/18 knots in the afternoon/evening.Sea: 1 to 2 metres.Swell: NE about 1 metre. Chance thunderstorm.
Sunday: Wind: N/NW 10/15 knots, tending N/NE 15/25 knots in the afternoon/evening.

Hello Friends,

Another day of little but catchable waves unfolding at Sydney region surf spots that like east swell. The average period has stretched out to 11 seconds according to the MHL buoy data, so although the height of the swell at sea is just a metre, we should be getting wave faces on the biggest sets into the chest high range.

The swell conditions should stay around the same through the day, but the wind will gradually drift around to the NE. Obviously that will mean the best afternoon sessions will be in semi-protected north corners.

A scan of the latest run of the wave height models suggests that we’re unlikely to get much energy from Ului this far down the coast. If you want a taste, you’ll have to head north…

Go well with your day!

TIDES: H @1040, L @1640
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Thursday until midnight: Wind: N/NW 5/10 knots at first, becoming NE 13/18 knots in the afternoon/evening.Sea: to 1 metre.Swell: E/SE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Friday: Wind: NW/NE 15/20 knots.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: E 1.5 to 2 metres.
Saturday: Wind: NW/NE 10/20 knots.