It was insanely busy at Dee Why in the middle of a perfect winter Saturday afternoon. The swell was rocking and the left in particular was almost a machine. I only shot for an hour or so, but managed to reap a nice collection of beautiful looking waves. One of the better days of the year for that place I’d say. Certainly in the top 10!
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A chilly, breezy Avalon played host to superb surfin’ conditions on Saturday morning, 9 July 2011. Your correspondent set up the camera and got shooting. Sets were 1.5x overhead and it was reasonably consistent.
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The Huey express pulled into town while we were sleeping and this morning sees offshore wind and around 3.5 metres of 11-12 sec SSE swell. Pumping big time.
Tide was low at 0730 and will hit a highish high at about 1400. Wind will pick up a bit during the day, but stay NW to W through the day.
Outlook is for the pulse to weaken toward midday and be noticeably smaller toward dusk – but that doesn’t mean it’ll be beginner friendly then or anything. We’re talking maybe a metre smaller, so it’ll still be pumping.
The way things are currently shaping up, it’s probably not going to drop below shoulder high at exposed spots for the next week!
Go well and watch before you get in the water, particularly if you’re still getting up to speed with your surfing skills. These long period conditions are serious and you really can get into trouble when it’s like this.
Weather Situation from the BoM A slow-moving, strong high pressure system southwest of the Bight is extending a ridge to the southern Coaral Sea while cold fronts are moving across the southern Tasman Sea maintaining strong to gale force winds along New South Wales coast. Forecast for Friday until midnight Winds West to northwesterly 10 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon then becoming westerly 20 to 25 knots later in the evening. Seas Up to 1.5 metres increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres by early evening. Swell Southerly 2 to 3 metres. Saturday 9 July Winds Westerly 20 to 25 knots increasing to 20 to 30 knots by early evening. Seas Up to 3 metres decreasing to 2 metres around dawn then increasing to 3 metres by early evening. Swell Southerly 2 to 3 metres. Weather Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore. Sunday 10 July Winds Westerly 20 to 25 knots increasing to 20 to 30 knots during the morning. Seas 1.5 to 2 metres increasing to 3 metres during the morning then increasing to 4 metres during the evening. Swell Southerly 3 metres. Weather Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore. Please be aware Wind gusts can be 40 percent stronger than the averages given here, and maximum waves may be up to twice the height. Nearby Coastal Waters
This forecast is also available via scheduled broadcasts on marine radio. Northern Coastal Waters Forecasts (PDF) Central Coastal Waters Forecasts (PDF) Southern Coastal Waters Forecasts (PDF) The next routine forecast will be issued at 4:05 pm EST Friday. Product IDN11009
If Friday was astounding, Saturday was every bit as good! I started proceedings by shooting a tow-in crew working the otherwise unmakeable shutdowns along South Narrabeen from about 0800 to 0850. Then it was on to Northy to shoot the very substantial crowd surfing in essentially perfect conditions. If you were in the water there between 0900-1015 and you caught a wave, there is a very good chance I caught you doing it! After lunch, I made my way to Manly and shot the outstanding waves there between 1300-1430.
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Swell has arrived right on schedule this morning. We’re probably looking at the peak about now and as the day rolls along it should begin to subside noticeably – but it won’t be going flat. Wind is set to be light and out of the south and southwest early before going more NE later. This is most definitely a day for experienced and fit surfers only.
The MHL site has been down since last night, so I can’t provide an objective set of numbers, but looking at the swell, I’d guess it’s around the 3 metre mark with a 14+ second period on sets.
The models show the pulse moving quickly away over the next 12 hours. With luck we’ll still have some fun shoulder to head high stuff tomorrow morning before we slip an extended period of small to flat conditions that could last for a week at least.
Yours truly plans to get out and about with the camera today, so with luck I should have some shots to share later.
Go well with your day!
Weather Situation A strong high pressure system near the Bass Strait extends a ridge to the northwestern Tasman Sea.
The high centre will move over the southwestern Tasman Sea on Wednesday and then it will move slowly towards New Zealand maintaining the ridge to the New South Wales north coast.
Forecast for Wednesday until midnight Winds: Southeast to southwesterly 5 to 10 knots becoming light northeasterly during the afternoon. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southerly 2 to 3 metres. Large swells breaking dangerously close inshore.
Forecast for Thursday Winds: North to northeasterly 5 to 10 knots becoming northerly 10 to 15 knots later in the evening. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Southerly about 2 metres.
Forecast for Friday Winds: North to northwesterly 5 to 10 knots tending north to northeasterly during the afternoon then increasing to 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: About 1 metre. Swell: Southeasterly about 1.5 metres.
Mona Vale was my last stop on this amazing surf day in Sydney. It was about as good as I’ve ever seen it too. Honing lefts, some going for well over a hundred metres, and lots and lots of thunderous barrels. The crowd on it was going nuts and needless to say my shutter button got a real work out.
Hope you got in this afternoon. Shoulda been good lots of places. Your loyal correspondent blew off work for a couple hours to join roughly half the population of Dee Why on an astoundingly good low tide peak (and the point was kinda fun too). I’m giving the best sets 9/10 – hard to imagine how 8 foot of lightly offshore peeling wall that runs for 150 metres plus could really be improved on.
Quite an impressive pulse, and from the look of the other buoy data along the coast of NSW, Sydney got it first and strongest. It arrived so quickly that I am cautious about my hopes for tomorrow. Often if it ramps this quickly, it drops just as fast as soon as it peaks. It’ll be interesting to see what the next run of the MHL data shows…
I hope to be happily surprised if it is still as big tomorrow morning. The models suggest that the swell should swing more south and be in the two metre range at sea. Wind should be stronger than this afternoon, but at least it’ll be out of the W-SW.
Here’s the latest call from the Bureau:
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards: Strong Wind Warning. Monday until midnight: Wind: W/NW 18/23 knots.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: S/SW 1 to 2 metres. Tuesday: Wind: W/SW 25/33 knots.Sea: 2 to 3 metres. Swell: S about 2 metres. Wednesday: Wind: SW/NW 10/15 knots. Thursday: Wind: S/SE 10/15 knots.
Anyway, herewith a few snaps taken in the last minutes of light after I got out of the water.
Dee Why point was eminently hackable on dusk.
Mr. P. pops the top off a little one.
The point wasn't as big as the beachy, but there were quality moments to be had.
Didn’t plan for it to be that way, but Wednesday 15 April 2009 ended up being devoted to the great works of Huey.
I figured there’d be waves this morning, so I started by checking out Dee Why and Gardens. Both had waves, but I sort of had a yen to catch some more at Gardens. After filing a report, I jammed down and went for a surf for a couple hours.
When I finished, I grabbed my cameras, and set up on the beach to catch a few snaps and some video sequences. I was there until noon!
It was unbelievably consistent and good – all day. Crowd was big before 0900, backed off a little toward lunch, then picked up again for the late. I reckon that at any given point during the day, there were 150-200 people in the water from south of Mactier St to Northy. But the waves were just pouring through, so I don’t think too many went home waveless.
After lunch and some unavoidable work on the magazine, I went out again. Had a look at Dee Why (very good) and Curly (good at north end, very good from mid to south end) and then looped back to Gardens again. Below you’ll find a tiny fraction of the pictures I shot. My plan is to put everything online eventually, but this will give you a feeling for Wednesday along the northern beaches…
Doesn't get a lot better than this morning's conditions at Gardens.
Messing around in the endless shories of Gardens this morning.
Driving hard at Gardens this morning.
Who wouldn't want one of these?
Check this guy's positioning from this morning at Gardens.
Mid-morning delight at Gardens.
Bodyboarder finds himself well positioned at Dee Why point this afternoon.
Afternoon offshore making Dee Why look even better.
Kneelo throws some spray at Dee Why point.
Nothing wrong with this late arvo offering at the ol' Dee Why.
Hooking one around at South Curly.
South Curly was standing a few of 'em up.
Another nice little section at North Curly this arvo.
North Curly wasn't as good as the south end, but you could have fun this afternoon.
Perfect right number 13,212 at Gardens this afternoon.
This morning started out misty, cool and windy. I began the day with a check out run down to look at south Narrabeen. Swell at that stage was out of the east at 4 metres at about 8 seconds apart. The wind was SW though, so although the picture taking conditions were pretty ordinary, there was definitely some size going on.
I hung around the parking lot just north of Marquesas on Ocean St for about half an hour, watching a couple blokes doing tow-ins up the beach where the Gardens used to be. Overall the conditions were not particularly good, but I did grab a pic or two to share.
Wind and swell combo right, but overcast and rainy too.
Tow-in person hooks into a thumping Garden set wave Weds am.
The wait between sets was relatively long, plus the swell was not quite the optimal angle for Gardens, so after awhile I lost interest, and headed south to see what I could find.
This bloke free-fell from the top of the wave into the pit.
Dee Why point wasn’t too crowded, but at that stage it wasn’t really coming together. Again, there was plenty of size, but the swell angle had too much east in it. I got a pic or two and then made for Manly where I figured there might be some interesting conditions to contemplate.
It was pretty obvious when I came around the corner to the bridge at Queenscliff that Manly was the spot. Skies were still grey and ‘orrible, but the swell was pumping. At that stage the wind was just a breath and there were barrels like the one below everywhere from North Steyne to the flags at South Steyne.
At 1004, 5 minutes after I started taking pictures, this one came through
For the next hour or so I snapped away at the waves at North Steyne. And then I got out my camcorder to shoot a bit of video (haven’t looked at that yet…). The crowd was building rapidly as every car with surfers in it screeched into parking spots when the occupants saw what was happening. Below are few snaps from the morning’s session.
