The first worshippers have arrived at the point to contemplate the infinite mystery of the interaction between brain and ocean waves...

Since around midnight the swell period setting has started to shoot upward. As of about 0900 it had increased to nearly 10 seconds. The same pattern is showing on the buoys north of us. Average period up at Byron is getting close to 11 sec. Size of the swell at sea is still a touch under 2 metres off the Sydney coast. It’s up to 3 metres at Byron though.

Dee Why point is looking relatively marginal, but then again it’s not one of the first spots you’d check when the swell’s out of the east. One such that is worth a look usually is Manly, but I’ve had a text message in this am that says the middle of the beach is around the 3 foot mark and “a bit messy”.

As many of you know, I’ve got my mitts on a Nikon D3 professional DSLR and a fast 300mm telephoto lens, so I’m going to head out shortly and grab some more pics from around the place.

Wind’ll be offshore through the day and the next morning tide is a high at 1123. Sadly for my photographic aspirations, the skies are set to be overcast and periodically showery.

Looks as though we should have waves for the next week, but if you had to pick a peak day or days it’d be tomorrow into Tuesday I’d say.

Now here’s the kind of thing I like to see in the Marine forecast:

Synoptic Situation
A high pressure system to the east of Tasmania extends a ridge along the New South Wales coast. A deep low near Norfolk Island is moving southeast and will generate an increasing SE ocean swell Sunday and Monday particularly over northern parts of the coast. A complex low system over the Bight will move slowly east bringing westerly winds to coastal parts for the forecast period.

And for those of us in Sydney, this looks okay

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: NW 10/15 knots, increasing to 15/20 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres rising to 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: E/SE 2 to 2.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: W/NW 13/18 knots.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: E 2 to 2.5 metres, decreasing
Tuesday: Wind: W’ly 10/20 knots.

Hi evening folk,

Hope you got a wave or two today. I had one of those will-I-won’t-I days. Finally gave into that familiar itch. You know the deal, I’m sure. You know there are waves and you could go… but for whatever reason you put it off. But the antsy feeling finally wins out and you toss the board into the car…

I got there about half an hour before the northerly breeze turned into wind and the little chop turned into big chop. Still, I got wet and I got a few snaps. Very friendly crew out there too. A number of people said “hi”, a couple had a yarn (I always like a yarn!) about this and that. Saw a pod of porpoises too, and a little penguin and a gannet. I’m one of those folks who just digs seeing the creatures who live out their entire lives in and around the sea.

Not great conditions for picture taking, but I have the test sample Panasonic FT-1 waterproof camera to play with for a bit longer, so I figured I might as well grab a few snaps. I still haven’t figured out how to get clean shots every time with this camera. When it’s good, it’s very good, so I’m persisting.

BTW, a few of the folk in the water asked if there would be pics available on the site. The answer is yes, but I have to nut out an easy way to do it first…

Here are a few snaps for you. Have a top old evening!

Not huge, but they were worth the long paddle out.

Photo of a photog!

Porpoise has a look around at the Bower.

Lining up a section

Little section at the Bower.

Before the wind got into it (around 1400)

It got overcast and cold, but for the hardy few who were willing to snap a board if they got in the wrong spot, there were waves to be had on the dropping tide. Ah, winter time.

The middle size ones seemed to be the cleanest.

Tidy looking options.

The tea gardens used to be near here.

Manly still has a few decent sized sets coming in although the consistency and quality is notably less than yesterday. Decent crowd on it early with the occasional 4 foot sets hitting the beach. Sadly the banks are still in a terrible state which seems such a pity with
such perfect conditions. Well worth a paddle though.

Before heading off to the Bower for a surf, I went down for a closer look at Gardens and then Northy (where all the pictures in this post come from)  Gardens was not looking as good as it had an hour or two earlier when I took the first set of pics this morning. There were a few bods struggling to hold position in the powerful sweep, but for the effort that had to be put in, the payoff was not that good. I checked there again around 2pm to see if anything had changed. It hadn’t.

I wasn’t at Northy for very long, but it was firing, so I was able to get some video and stills. It was very crowded so you wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone looking for a laid back surf session. I should imagine the vibe level out there was all business.

Anyhoo… here are just a small sample from my shooting session. Once again, if you happen to want one in high res, contact me via the feedback link at the top of the page.

All curvy

Two for one

Spraytime

Holding things back for the cover.

Wonder what the real estate people would value that one at.

Getting vertical at Northy this morning.

Looking for a drop out of place at Northy

Mal-ing Northy

Northyness

Northy section

Waves on the inside were particularly tasty at Northy this morning.

Demand threatening to exceed supply at Northy.

Hello Friends,

Jumped in the water at the Bower  for a bit of the swell. Had a waterproof Panasonic camera (the DMC-FT1) to play with, so I grabbed some piccies for you… Anyone who’d like a high res, just use the feedback link in the top menu to let me know.  I was having issues with the focus (probably not set correctly) so not all the other shots are sharp enough to use. But there are other shots.

Surfrider

About to plant the paddle and pivot back up the face for a snap.

A few good size sets to keep things interesting at the Bower around midday.

Arcing one around at the Bower around midday

Stepping over surge

Yo Kev!

Mal person at the Bower around midday.

Surge claims another victim...

Foam and spray

The best one I got of ya mate...

Recoiling for the next move at the Bower around midday.

At zee Bower around midday.

Hello Friends,

Once it was plain that the sun was out for the rest of the day, I decided to take a jaunt. The period of the east swell has increased slightly to around 9 seconds. So I thought there might be something worth escaping the keyboard for.

First stop was just south of Gardens. There were two or three people out near Marquesas, but while it was solidly overhead on sets, the incoming tide, swell direction and generally sloppiness of the surface conditions were not combining very well. I waited around for awhile to see if someone would catch something but they never did.

Council trucks unloading a future bank at Wetherill St?

While I was standing there, I noticed that the Council was tipping sand off the end of Wetherill St to counterbalance in a tiny bit the recent pronounced erosion. I reckon the beachfront is about as carved out as I’ve seen in my 20 plus years on the northern beaches. Much of it will return come the calmer summer months, but I’d bet we haven’t seen the end of the erosion for this winter.

Next stop was Long Reef. The swell was getting in there too, but it was suffering from a kind of sluggishness. Although there was enough size to have fun, that shortish period seems to be translating into rather slow, lumbering and sectiony waves. The lefts were the only real option up the north end, whilst down toward No Man’s you could get the odd very brief righthand section. But the lack of people in the water was testament to the conditions.

Long Reef shorey kinda putt-putting along this arvo.

Wave looks pretty tasty for upwards of 3 seconds - and then shuts down.

Untempted to paddle out myself, I sought inspiration further south, so pointed the old surfmobile toward Dee Why.

The more direct exposure to the oncoming east swell was yielding some good size faces, but the messiness factor and slothful period meant that most waves were pretty crumbly. You needed to work the board pretty hard to get reasonable acceleration. The longer and wider the craft, the better the results. Fairly busy too in the beach break. There were some little things in front of the point for a couple bodyboarders. I saw one get a longish section before he got picked off. Doing a lot of waiting out there I’d say.

Surely Curly…

Big enough to be very fun, but pretty sectiony too at Dee Why.

It was busy around at north Curly and for good reason. It was the best of a pretty ordinary bunch. The crew was scattered about at the north end and there didn’t seem to be just one place where you could get into ‘em. Plus there were both rights and lefts. But… but it was still kind of full and slow on lots of them.

Sectiony like everywhere else, but definitely a few fun ones to be had at north Curly.

Here’s the latest from the Bureau. I like the look of the wind forecast. Maybe it’ll clean up a bit more overnight…

Oh, and first tide tomorrow is a high around 0830.

Go well one and all.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Monday until midnight: Wind: N/NW 10/15 knots inshore, grading to N/NE 18/23 knots offshore.Sea: about 1metre inshore, 1.5 to 2.0 metres offshore. Swell: NE 2 to 3 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NW/NE 5/10 knots.Sea: to 1 metre.Swell: NE 2 to 3 metres.
Wednesday: Wind: N/NW 10/20 knots.
Thursday: Wind: W/SW 10/20 knots.

Messy little lines bumble their way into Dee Why.

Not the day for the point.

Hello Friends,

Not what you’d call a great day at the beach. Wind along the northern beaches is east, while the latest reading from Little Bay and the Airport, show it’s more ESE to SE. This afternoon it’s expected to go around more to the NE. Swell is once more out of the east at a couple metres and 8 seconds apart. I’ve given this morning a 2 out of 10.

The outlook is for the conditions to dribble along like this for the next couple days. Toward the end of the week the models show it moving into the realms of flatness – westerlies + tiny, short period windswell. I guess it wouldn’t be winter without the odd offshore flat spell…

Ah well, Huey will return…

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Monday until midnight: Wind: E/SE 10/15 knots tending E/NE in the afternoon. Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres.Swell: S/SE 2 to 2.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: E/NE 10/15 knots.Sea: 1 to 1.5 metresSwell: S/SE 1.5 to 2 metres.
Wednesday: Wind: N/NE 10/15 knots.

Hello again Friends,

Did a quick run around to get a sense of how the southern end of the Northern Beaches looked early.

Here are a few thoughts…

Fairy Bower seemed to be pretty busy, but there may have been a long lull because I really didn’t see anything above chest high. Given the swell, I think there must be bigger ones though. Lulls + crowds = 7/10

There were good waves all up and down the Manly stretch. Very crowded of course, but the payoffs could be pretty impressive. 8/10

Freshwater didn’t have too many in, but I think most of the bigger ones were shutting down and the surfable smaller ones were inconsistent. 5/10

Curly didn’t seem to have anyone in. The north end looked plausible, but the lack of any participants has to raise question marks. 5/10

At Dee Why both the point and the beach were offering options. Quality was pretty good, crowds were about average for hols. 7/10

Far north Collaroy to Northy was pretty uncrowded. There were a few folks out down toward Mactier street and then hardly anyone between there and Northy (where the standard issue cluster of bods was on it). Rides at the south end were short, but could be intense. 7/10

Low tide grinder hits North Steyne around 0720.

Not looking too crowded there, I wonder why... (0740)

Not super clean, but good size to be had at far north Collaroy.

Lotsa shutdowns, but some sections at far north Collaroy.

Showery but the quality was obvious at 0730.

Hello Friends,

Just waiting for enough light to take a picture or two. It’s kind of hazy to start this morning, but from what I can see of the Dee Why stretch, the swell situation is still looking good. The MHL buoy is showing east at two metres at close to 10 seconds apart.

Here’s the Bureau’s call:

Thursday until midnight: Wind: W/SW 10/15 knots, turning NE/NW at about 10 knots in the afternoon and evening. Sea: to 1 metre. Swell: E/SE 1.5 to 2 metres.
Friday: Wind: S/SW 10/20 knots.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: E/NE 1 to 2 metres.
Saturday: Wind: S/SE 15/25 knots.

More as soon as I have some pics to share…