Hello Friends,

First, apologies for running so late, but a bunch of stuff hit the desk early and I couldn’t get to it to tell you that it was/is much cleaner this morning and that we had/have swell. The MHL buoy is showing the main swell coming from the south at a couple metres with an average period of  close to 9 seconds. However, there’s also some 13 second stuff in the mix and that seems to be delivering the odd chest high plus wave face.

Not much happening on the tidal front today. There’s barely half a metre difference between the 1125 low and the 1710 high.

The wind may not get up to too much today as it’s set to wander around to various points of the compass. Swell trend looks to be heading gradually downward but with luck it may actually work out okay because the mix of short period south and longer period east is set to see the latter become more dominant. Anyway, I reckon there’ll be waves of some sort all day.

Have yourself a good one!

Forecast for Friday until midnight

Winds

Northwest to northeasterly 15 to 20 knots tending northwest to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots in the middle of the day then tending south to southwesterly 5 to 10 knots in the late afternoon.

Seas

Up to 1.5 metres decreasing to below 1 metre later in the evening.

Swell

Southeasterly about 2 metres tending easterly about 1.5 metres from midday.

Saturday 4 February

Winds

Southerly 5 to 10 knots shifting east to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon.

Seas

Below 1 metre.

Swell

Easterly about 1.5 metres.

Hello Friends,

As expected, the swell has dropped quite a bit overnight, but it’s far from flat. Coming from the SE at about 1.5 metres and with a period of 9 seconds, waves are in the chest high range along Dee Why beach and mostly a bit smaller for the healthy crew at the point. Tide was low at around 0740, so this morning should see a bit of tidal push to the swell.

However, the NE’r is due to rise soon and once that happens, it’ll be up to the north corners for the remaining scraps of swell.

Have yourself a great Sunday!

Weather Situation
A slow-moving high pressure system over the southern Tasman Sea is maintaining a ridge along the New South Wales coast. Meanwhile, a broad low pressure trough is gradually approaching from the west. The trough is expected to bring a southerly change to the south coast later on Monday, extending to the north during Tuesday.
Forecast for Sunday until midnight
Winds
Northeasterly 5 to 10 knots, increasing to 20 to 25 knots during the morning.
Seas
Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres by early evening then increasing to 2 metres later in the evening.
Swell
Southeasterly 1 metre.
Monday 19 December
Winds
North to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots.
Seas
1.5 to 2 metres.
Swell
Southeasterly 1 metre.
Tuesday 20 December
Winds
Southwesterly 15 to 25 knots tending southerly 15 to 20 knots during the morning.
Seas
1 to 1.5 metres.
Swell
Easterly 1 metre tending northeasterly from midday.

Hello Friends,

Swell’s dropped quite a bit since yesterday morning. But it’s still close to 2 metres at sea with an average period of 9 seconds and, happily, the primary direction is more around to the SE. And that ought to open up a few more possibilities around the place.

Wind was light and out of the SW for the early. The Bureau says it’s going to swing more to the south and then SE as it picks up into the 10-15 kt range by lunch. So, the plan is obviously to get out there asap.

High tide arrives in Sydney a little before noon.

It looks as though the swell energy should stick around but gradually decrease over the next day or two. At this stage it seems likely that we’ll have waves for the weekend warriors on Saturday morning, and possibly even through to Sunday.

Have yourself a fantastic Friday!

Weather Situation
A high south of the Bight extends a ridge towards New South Wales. The high will slowly drift east during the next day or two, with a ridge strengthening along the Australian east coast and north to northeasterly winds developing along the coast over the weekend. A trough approaching from the west is expected to reach the NSW coast late Monday/Tuesday, when a southerly change will extend northwards along the southern half of the coast.
Forecast for Friday until midnight
Winds
Southerly 5 to 10 knots turning southeasterly 10 to 15 knots in the late morning.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Southeasterly 2 metres.
Saturday 17 December
Winds
Southeasterly 5 to 10 knots tending east to northeasterly later in the evening.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Southeasterly 1.5 metres.
Sunday 18 December
Winds
Northeasterly 10 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon.
Seas
Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres during the afternoon.
Swell
Southeasterly about 1.5 metres.

Hello Friends,

Gee, doesn’t Sydney like a SE swell? It’s nothing amazing, but we do have a couple metres of 9 to 10 second SE swell this morning, so with minimal effort you should be able to jag something. Wind was lightly offshore to begin with, but the Bureau says it’ll go around to the easterly quarters and gradually settle to the NE this afternoon. The morning session should generally be the better option, but it doesn’t look as though the swell will decline much between now and dark.

Longer term, it would seem that there should be a little something again tomorrow, but probably less consistent and smaller than today. Beyond that, the indicators are pointing toward marginal to flat. So get out there if you can in the next couple days…

Have yourself a fun Wednesday and go well with your plans!

TIDES: L  @0830, H @1500

Forecast for Wednesday until midnight

Winds

Southerly 5 to 10 knots tending northeast to southeasterly during the afternoon then northeasterly up to 15 knots by evening.

Seas

Below 1 metre.

Swell

Southeasterly 1.5 to 2 metres.

Thursday 6 October

Winds

North to northeasterly 5 to 10 knots becoming northeasterly 10 to 15 knots around midday then increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon.

Seas

Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres by early evening.

Swell

Southeasterly about 1.5 metres.

Hello Friends,

Swell is out of the south at an average height of 4 metres (+ seas to 6m). Period is averaging 9 seconds but there is some 11 sec component in the mix too. Wind was SSW at 12-15kts. Both the wind and swell are set to decrease during the day, with the Bureau calling for the latter to be down to about 2m by dark. There’s a 60% chance of a shower and it’ll be cloudy all day.

Despite the numbers, the average set wave face I saw at Dee Why when I checked at around 0720 was in the shoulder to head high range. I’d be very surprised if there weren’t some bigger ones every now and then though. Relatively clean in the protected corners too. Had a look at the Collaroy to Narra stretch and spotted some attractive little walls  near Marquesas but while I watched they all shut down unmakeably. Great patience required I’d say.

Outlook for the coming week is not too encouraging from this run of the wave forecast models. Basically we’re looking at onshores and grey skies with a steady supply of shortish period windswell. There is the prospect of an intense east coast low spinning up off the north coast and by mid-week some of the models reckon we could be looking at a peak of up to 5 metres of east swell. ECL’s aren’t all that predictable, so there’s probably an even money chance of it not getting to anything like that big. If it does though, the models show it being essentially unsurfable due to howling onshores – although you might get a wave at one of the inner harbour spots I suppose…

Go well with your Saturday!

Tides: L @0945, H @1620, Water @ 19C

Thought I’d head up the peninsula to see if the swell was doing anything interesting. Drove as far as Avalon where I discovered a small group at the south end waiting and waiting for the very occasional shoulder high set wave. Watched for quite awhile before deciding it was just too inconsistent to set up the camera. Checked in at the peak in Newport to see what the dozen or so bods were doing on it. It was more consistent than Av, but the larger number of people meant the wait for waves was probably about the same on average. Size was a touch smaller too. Took the following picture:

Next stop was Mona Vale. Again, smallish (compared to the last few days) and rather busy considering. I think the swell was just too south for the place to really start working properly, so after watching for a bit, I headed off south to see what Northy was looking like. It was a case of hmmm… yeah… busy, inconsistent with the odd shoulder high one, but like Mona, not really the best swell direction for the place. Still, it did produce at least something for the camera…

Stopped for a squizz at Longy. Waves were a touch smaller on average I thought, but there were lots of fine folk chasing ‘em from the Lugga to the Dee Why end. Shutdowns were well in front of makeable sections, but I walked down to the water’s edge and took a snap for your amusement.

Last stop on my little journey was Curl Curl. It certainly looked a picture, particularly toward the south end. I watched for some time before finally deciding that since this is the last of the sunny weather and offshore waves for awhile, that I might as well do some shooting. I spent nearly an hour grabbing snaps (including some of a nice chap who introduced himself as a long time RealSurf fan). They’ve just finished processing, but I can’t upload them yet because the hundreds of shots I got yesterday morning at Manly and in the evening at Dee Why are still making their way to the server. Should be up by this evening I hope! Here’s a sample…

Hello Friends,

The story of the morning is that our lovely run of swell and weather is fading rapidly away. This morning the MHL buoy is showing that the primary swell direction is pretty close to dead south and the average height at sea is just a hair above a metre. The only setting that hasn’t changed much from yesterday is the all important period. It’s still very close to ten seconds and as a consequence there was a reason for the punters to be on it at Dee Why point as the sun came into view over the horizon. The sets are around the chest to head high mark, so it’s not looking too bad. I’d expect the other south spots to be showing as well, so get out there if you can…

Wind is light westerly right now, but the call is for it to swing SW and to start ramping up strongly. The weather is set to be sunny this morning, but by this evening we could be seeing a few showers as we head into what looks to be a pretty blustery weekend. The Bureau says we’re going to see a return to grey and showery weather for the next week.

Happily, I’ve shot us a nice record of the swell action, so we can look back and reflect upon Huey’s excellent work. As I write this a few hundred pictures from yesterday morning at Manly (I’d call it 8 out of 10) and Dee Why beach in the late afternoon are uploading to my galleries. It’ll be a few hours before they’re all up, but sometime this afternoon I should be able to switch them on…

In the meantime, I might try to find one more shooting sesh before the great conditions go away… say hi if you see me down there and go well with your day.

TIDES: L @0800, H @1400

Weather Situation

A complex low pressure system lies near Tasmania with an associated trough over the western Tasman Sea. During Friday the low will move slowly to the east and a high pressure system will move south of the Bight extending a ridge to New South Wales north coast. The high is expected to move slowly east over the next few days strengthening the ridge across the Tasman Sea.

Forecast for Friday until midnight

Winds: Southwesterly 10 to 20 knots tending south to southwesterly 20 to 30 knots by early evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres by early evening then increasing to 2 to 3 metres later in the evening. Swell: Southeasterly about 2 metres.

Forecast for Saturday

Winds: South to southwesterly 25 to 30 knots becoming southerly 20 to 25 knots by early evening then decreasing to 15 to 20 knots later in the evening. Seas: 2 to 3 metres. Swell: Southerly 2 to 3 metres.

Forecast for Sunday

Winds: South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots becoming southeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southerly about 2 metres.

T

Hello Friends,

Somewhat lumpy and junky looking this morning for the early, but with luck it will tidy up a little before the afternoon NE’r gets going. Sets at Dee Why were into the shoulder high range at both the point and the beachy. Swell is still out of the south at around the two metre mark with an average period in the 10 second range. Reasonable number of bods on it too, but not significantly more or less than the last couple days. A bit busier than usual maybe as we are running up to school holidays.

Basically, if you stick to yesterday’s script, you should find something similar again today. Outlook is for the quality to run down from about lunch time as the onshores roll in.

Outlook is for marginal conditions tomorrow as the wind gets into an e-se pattern, but the Bureau says there should still be a couple metres of south swell, so at least it shouldn’t be flat everywhere as well.

Longer term it seems as though we’re drifting toward small conditions by next Monday. However, between now and then, there should be something sloshing around for the keen.

Go well with your day!

Tides: H @0730, L @1325

Weather Situation from the Bureau of Meterology

A series of lows are passing through the southern Tasman, with associated cold fronts extending northwards towards the NSW coast. One of these will pass along the southern NSW coast later today, and is expected to reach the Sydney coast late evening. A persistent ridge of high pressure over NSW is gradually extending further eastwards and will bring easing winds and afternoon coastal sea breezes.

Forecast for Wednesday until midnight
Winds: Southeasterly and light tending northeasterly up to 10 knots around midday then up to 15 knots during the afternoon. Winds tending southeasterly later in the evening. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southerly 2 metres.

Forecast for Thursday
Winds: East to southeasterly 5 to 10 knots tending northeasterly by early evening. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southerly about 2 metres.

Forecast for Friday
Winds: Light winds tending north to northwesterly up to 10 knots during the morning then tending north to northeasterly during the afternoon. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southerly 1.5 metres.