If you can get to your favourite south swell spot this morning, the go at once. Swell is close to the three metre mark at sea with a punchy 10-11 second period. Set wave faces were 1.5-2x overhead at Dee Why before 0700.
Swell has likely peaked, but it should be solid right through the day. In fact, we should have reasonable energy levels across the next 3 days or so.
The wind will be out of the SE before long and we’re racing toward a high tide at a little after 1100.
Get out there if ya can!
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 Thursday until midnight Winds South to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots.. Seas Below 1 metre. Swell Southerly 2 to 3 metres. Friday 16 December Winds South to southeasterly 10 to 15 knots turning easterly 5 to 10 knots during the evening. Inshore sea breezes. Seas Below 1 metre. Swell Southeasterly about 2 metres. Saturday 17 December Winds Southeast to northeasterly about 10 knots. Seas Below 1 metre. Swell Southeasterly 1.5 metres.
After shooting solid conditions at North Narrabeen, I got on me bike and raced down for a look at the south end of the beach before the light went away. As you’ll see when you watch the highlights gallery on this page, it was extremely photogenic and board-snappingly ferocious. As per usual all pics are available for purchase. Just click on anything of interest and the look top left for the price options.
For not more than a couple hours before dark on Thursday afternoon 29/9, a punchy, 2 metre ENE swell and offshore winds combined to turn the entire Narrabeen stretch into a wave wonderland. I shot at Northy from about 1615 to 1700 and in that time managed to accumulate 300+ shots. Below is a gallery of 20 from that collection. As always, any of these images may be purchased and downloaded immediately. Just click on a pic you want, then look top left for the size/price options link.
NW breeze and a touch more east to the two metre, 10 second south swell wrapping into the Dee Why stretch. Early risers were on it and when the bomb sets rolled in, they were looking at overhead wave faces.
Outlook is for the swell to fade as the day goes along but with luck there’ll still be something for the late afternoon crew. Wind will be mainly offshore this morning and then will come around to the NE after lunch.
This morning’s assortment of swell forecast interpretations is calling for a drop to marginal by tomorrow morning and could be close to flat by close of play. Aside from a possible slight perk into mal-able range on Thursday, it currently looks as though the east coast could be in for a prolonged stretch of marginal to tiny conditions. Here’s hoping the predictions turn out to be unduly pessimistic…
In the meantime, get out there if you possibly can and no matter how the dice roll, have a top day!
TIDES: H @0830 L @1435
Weather Situation A high pressure system near Adelaide extends a ridge across NSW. The high will move northeast today as a cold front approaches western Victoria, the front is expected to cross Victoria and southeastern NSW tomorrow. The high, centred over southeast Queensland or the northern Tasman Sea will then extend a ridge to the south, over NSW, for the remainder of the week. Forecast for Tuesday until midnight Winds West to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots tending north to northeasterly during the afternoon. Winds tending west to northwesterly 10 to 20 knots early evening. Seas Below 1 metre increasing up to 2 metres early evening. Swell Southerly about 2 metres. Wednesday 14 September Winds West to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots. Seas Up to 1.5 metres. Swell Southerly about 1 metre. Thursday 15 September Winds South to southwesterly 5 to 15 knots tending southeasterly up to 10 knots during the afternoon then tending northeasterly during the evening. Seas Below 1 metre. Swell Southerly about 1 metre.
Much, much better than the models were making out for this morning. Swell is out of the south and averaging 4 metres at sea with an average period of close to 9 seconds. Many of the sets seem to be missing the point, but the beach was doing just fine at 0700. Plus the wind was straight offshore! Tide was high at about 0650 and is now dropping to a moderate low at 1240 or so. Wind is strong and going to get stronger as it comes around to the SW and gets into the 20-30 kt range.
From the shape of this morning’s swell prediction model interpretations, we should have solid swell through Monday and possibly even Tuesday. This could be about as big as it gets though. Wind should be SW today and tomorrow, but the Bureau says southerly is the likelihood for Monday.
Water temp is around the 17 mark out at sea and the forecast is for a high of only 16 under partly cloudy skies (although it was clear when I dashed off these lines)
Sets at Dee Why looked to be around the head high mark, but given the numbers, I reckon there will be bigger than that at more exposed spots – and on the bombs too of course.
Have a great Saturday!
Weather Situation
A low pressure system is deepening over the western Tasman Sea increasing winds along the New South Wales Coast. During today the low is expected to move rapidly towards New Zealand as a strong high pressure system moves into the Bight extending a ridge to the northern Tasman Sea and a cold front moves east of Tasmania. Winds are expected to ease gradually on Sunday as the high moves east strengthening the ridge across the Tasman Sea.
Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds
Southwesterly 20 to 30 knots.
Seas
Up to 4 metres decreasing to 3 metres during the afternoon.
Swell
Southerly 1.5 to 3 metres.
Weather
Isolated thunderstorms offshore this morning and afternoon.
Sunday 11 September
Winds
Southwesterly 20 to 30 knots decreasing to 15 to 25 knots during the morning then decreasing to 10 to 20 knots during the afternoon. Winds tending south to southwesterly 20 to 25 knots later in the evening.
Seas
Up to 3 metres decreasing to 2 metres around midday.
Swell
Southerly 2 to 3 metres.
Monday 12 September
Winds
Southerly 20 to 30 knots decreasing to 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon then tending southeasterly up to 10 knots during the evening.
Seas
3 metres decreasing to 2 metres during the morning then decreasing to below 1 metre during the afternoon.
Although mute with laryngitis , I wasn’t so out of it that I couldn’t take a few pictures earlier today. Started up at the Longy bombies. Although I shot a small gallery of pics (up by tomorrow), the quality wasn’t amazing really. People were sitting all the way out on German Bank (or what several of them called German Bank) but the wind was coming up steadily and the tide was coming in, so it became increasingly difficult for people to paddle into the waves.
As the wind got harder and harder, I decided to go back to Dee Why (with a look over the hill at Curly, Freshy and Manly first) and shoot the beach break for a bit. The crew were having a contest on the point and there were lots of folks taking pics, so I figure they were all well covered off! Anyway, still grabbed a snap or two of the proceedings, but focused manly on the beachy. Not quite the machine of yesterday though. Sets were tending to shut it all down and there weren’t as many nice lefts. Still, got some fun pics for folks to look at later.
From there I decided to have a look at the Collaroy-Narra stretch and Warriewood-Mona Vale. Nothin’ much doing along the former and lots of shutdowns for the small crew in at Warriewood. On the way home I pulled into Northy out of curiosity – but not really expecting anything because of the swell direction. Turned out there were a couple folks paddling ‘em at carparks as well as a tow-in team. Took a few snaps for the helluva it, and then called it a wrap.
I’d have to give the prize to the point this morning as best waves I saw today.
Looks as though we’ll waves tomorrow with the models still saying that a pulse into the near 4m range could fill in for the afternoon.
Near perfect conditions on a Saturday afternoon at south Narrabeen. People were in the water from Mactier Street almost all the way to Northy. I only had an hour or so to shoot, but I made the most of it. Sets were into the head high range and it was offshore and sunny too. Lots of waves were unmakeable, but people didn’t mind the old take off and die strategy – because sometimes it paid off.
Just click the pic below to visit the entire gallery of pictures.
Friday morning dawned sunny and offshore with a pumping 3 metre south swell at Dee Why. Your humble correspondent set up the camera and spent a couple hours shooting under great conditions. Have a look if you were in the water, I probably got a shot or two at least. Have look even if you weren’t in the water, you might see a mate in amongst those great waves. As always, click the pic below to go to the gallery. To see buying options, click individual pictures and look top left for the link to the prices.
Swell arrived down south yesterday and while most of us were sleeping last night, it started coming up in Sydney as well.
Swell at sea is currently showing at about two metres from the south with a useful average period of 10 seconds to which the big guy is adding the odd 14 second prowler to keep things interesting.
Wind was out of the west at 0700. Velocities were in the 10-15kt range, but the forecast says we can expect a swing to the SW soon and by midday we’ll be looking at 25-35 kts. The latest MHL data supports the Bureau’s forecast of a swell increase into the 3-4 metre range at about the same time as that wind really gets going. We’re also set to lose the early morning sunny skies too as things cloud up and the possibility of a shower or two develops later.
The latest run of the forecast models seems to indicate a week of south wind and solid swell.
Not a good day for beginners from the look of things, but if you experienced surfers can get in this morning, there could be some fun to be had.
Have yourself a great Friday!
TIDES: L @0850, H @1520
Weather Situation
A low east of Tasmania is expected to move slowly to the east/northeast maintaining a strong to gale force southwest airstream over the southern and central parts of the coast throughout Friday before winds turn more southerly and ease on Saturday. An onshore airstream is likely to develop during Sunday as a ridge builds to the south.
Forecast for Friday until midnight
Winds
Southwesterly 25 to 30 knots tending south to southwesterly 25 to 35 knots around midday.
Seas
3 metres increasing to 4 metres around midday.
Swell
Southerly 2 to 3 metres increasing to 3 to 4 metres this afternoon and evening.
Weather
Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore in the afternoon and evening.
Saturday 11 June
Winds
Southerly 20 to 30 knots decreasing to 20 to 25 knots around dawn then decreasing to 15 to 20 knots later in the evening.
Seas
2 to 3 metres decreasing to 1.5 metres later in the evening.
Swell
Southerly 3 to 4 metres tending southeasterly 2 to 3 metres in the afternoon and evening.
Sunday saw the swell swing a bit more to the SE as it began to fade. Still there were some magnificent waves to be had for the fortunate crew who were on them at Manly. I shot for an hour from near the North Steyne surfclub. Ended up with almost 400 shots of regular surfers getting some uncommonly good waves on a sunny morning.
Late in the afternoon, after going for a fun surf myself at Dee Why point, I went up to North Narrabeen for the sunset show. Not really expecting to find much, I was surprised to discover that there were still some very tasty and often quite makeable little barrels coming through. Some very deep pits to be had if you could hold your line.
As usual, by clicking on any of the pics below you’ll be taken to the complete gallery for that session. And, as usual, I was aiming to get extraordinary shots of ordinary surfers… enjoy and don’t forget, all pics are available for purchase at various sizes.
For not more than a couple hours before dark on Thursday afternoon 29/9, a punchy, 2 metre ENE swell and offshore winds combined to turn the entire Narrabeen stretch into a wave wonderland. I shot at Northy from about 1615 to 1700 and in that time managed to accumulate 300+ shots. Below is a gallery of 20 from that collection. As always, any of these images may be purchased and downloaded immediately. Just click on a pic you want, then look top left for the size/price options link.
