After shooting at North Narrabeen for an hour, I decided to move to another beach to see what the NE swell was doing. Ended up doing the trek down to Bungan where a crew were extracting numerous moments of intense fun from the overhead sets and clean offshore conditions.
Bungan 11 Aug 2010 1230-1330 – Images by Don Norris
One of the best days of the 2010 winter surf season, so I blew off writing responsibilities, grabbed the camera and went looking for firing waves. First stop was North Narrabeen where the NE swell was unloading into an offshore wind much to the delight of the assembled crew.
North Narrabeen Wed 11 Aug 2010 1050-1150 – Images by Don Norris
Hello late evening visitors!
Hope Sydney surfers all got in for a wave at some point during the day. The NE swell was pumping at exposed places. Sets were into the overhead range (solidly) and it was pretty consistent.
I did a fair amount of shooting too. Started this morning at Northy on a kind of full tide and with cloud making the colours dull. But there were some nice waves being ridden by the good size crowd.
Next stop was Bungan where word had reached my shell like ears that there were a few tasty ones. It wasn’t quite in Northy’s league, but sets were almost into the same size range and there was enough juice to snap at least one board.
Finally I pulled up at Mona Vale where it was very definitely firing. Again, got a few snaps that I hope captured people having fun in the crunchy, high quality waves.
After all that shooting I figured it was my turn, so I got in the water at Longy down toward No Mans. Good crowd on it, but it was consistent and while not as big as the other three spots, we still had a few pretty fun sets and I scored a few nice ones.
The swell is set to last into tomorrow morning but to be on the decline through the day. Plus it looks like we’ll have a bit of wind with it.
Friday looks to be changeover day as we switch from NE to S swell. Latest run of the models are calling for a very substantial spike arriving Friday. From Friday arvo through to Saturday morning could be rather impressive. Some estimates are calling for 3-4 metres of south swell and the Bureau says we’ll have SW to NW wind. I might be shooting a few more pics.
See ya in the morning!
Thr TIDES: H @0945 L @1540
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Gale Warning.
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: Northwesterly about 25 knots.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres increasing to 2 to 3 metres later in the evening.Swell: Northeasterly 2 to 3 metres. Isolated afternoon thunderstorms possible.
Thursday: Wind: West to northwesterly 25 to 30 knots tending west to southwesterly during the morning then becoming southwesterly 25 to 35 knots by early evening.Sea: 2 to 3 metres.Swell: Northeasterly 1.5 to 3 metres decreasing to about 1.5 metres during the evening. Tending southerly 1.5 to 3 metres during the evening.
Friday: Wind: Southwesterly 20 to 30 knots tending south to southwesterly 15 to 25 knots around midday then decreasing below 20 knots by early evening. Winds southerly up to 10 knots later in the evening.
Saturday: Wind: West to northwesterly 5 to 15 knots tending north to northwesterly during the afternoon then increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the evening.
It was all gone when I checked again toward mid-afternoon, but Saturday morning there were some very fun sections to be found at south Narrabeen. It was reasonably, but not insanely, busy when I was down shooting. The light was perfect and although the shutdown percentage was in the 80% range, there were some fine memories forged along the beach this morning (as I’m sure there were at various other places!)
South Narrabeen, Sun 13 June 2010 (0945-1045) – Images by Don Norris
Hello Friends,
Another morning with solid and offshore conditions at south swell spots. According to the Bureau’s forecast, it should be southerly, so you’d have to think the offshores will gradually fade as the wind falls back in line with the prediction.
Wave faces on the big ones at Dee Why look to be pretty close to the 3 metre height of the swell at sea. The 9 second period is an important factor I’d say.
Outlook for the week ahead is promising according to the latest run of the forecast models. Wednesday and Thursday currently look like being the trough with another solid – potentially bigger than today – new pulse fills in as the weekend comes into sight.
Gotta love winter boys and girls!
Go well with your plans and have yourself a top old day.
TIDES: L @0950, H @1630
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Strong wind warning.
Monday until midnight: Wind: Southerly 25 to 30 knots decreasing to 20 to 25 knots around midday.Sea: Up to 3 metres decreasing to 1.5 metres by early evening.Swell: Southeasterly 3 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: Southerly 10 to 20 knots tending south to southwesterly up to 10 knots around dawn then tending northwesterly around midday. Winds north to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots later in the evening.Sea: Up to 1.5 metres.Swell: Southerly 3 metres decreasing to about 2 metres from midday.
Wednesday: Wind: Northwesterly 15 to 20 knots increasing to 15 to 25 knots during the morning then tending west to northwesterly 20 to 30 knots during the afternoon.
Visited Mona Vale only briefly on Sunday but got a few shots to share. It was about as big as anywhere else and on the sets it was looking about as impressive as Manly and Northy. Anyway, hope you enjoy! And remember, if you see yourself in the shots and want to get a high res version without the watermark, just double click the image and go to the cart.
Mona Vale Sun 30 May 2010 (am) – Images by Don Norris
Sunday the 30th of May should make the top ten best days of this year. After shooting for a couple hours at Manly, I wandered north to see how the swell was doing at spots like Mona Vale and Northy. Here’s a selection of shots from the latter…
North Narrabeen Sun 30 May 2010 (noon) – Images by Don Norris
Sunday was very good to Sydney’s surf zones. Hundreds of people got wet as a punchy ESE swell lit up spots all over the place. I began a day of shooting in the morning at Manly. First I spent some time up at the Queensie end shooting the folk getting amongst it. After an hour or so, I ducked down to North Steyne to fang off a few more. Ended up with around 200 snaps. If you were in the water and you were one of the people catching waves… well, I just might have caught you…
Coming soon… North Narrabeen at noon
Manly Sun 30 May 2010 am – Images by Don Norris
Hello Friends,
As we’d hoped, the swell has cleaned up and weather conditions have improved. Quite a crew on it at Dee Why from early. The outlook is for light and variable breezes from the northern quarters this morning. This afternoon it’s supposed to be around to the NE at 10-15kts.
The ESE swell is expected to fade a little as the day goes along, but from the look of the MHL data, it might not be by much. As the day got started it was around the 2-2.5 metre mark with a juicy 10 second average period.
Get out there if you can!
TIDES: H @ 0830, L @1400
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: Variable 5 to 10 knots early, tending north to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon and increasing to 15 to 20 knots offshore in the evening.Sea: to 1 metre. Swell: Southeasterly 2 to 2.5 metres, decreasing.
Saturday: Wind: Northeast to northwesterly 15 to 20 knots early, becoming northwesterly 15 to 20 knots.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: East to southeasterly 1.5 to 2 metres.
Sunday: Wind: West to southwesterly 10 to 20 knots, turning east to southeast 20 to 30 knots during the afternoon, possibly increasing to 25 to 35 knots.
Saturday 15 May 2010 saw a three metre plus SSE swell with an average 11 second period hit Sydney. I went down to Dee Why point to shoot a few pics which I share with you here. As usual, any of these can be purchased – just click on the pic you want and add it to your cart and pay the exceedingly modest fee!
Dee Why point 15 May 2010 (am) – Images by Don Norris
