Hello Friends,

Lightly offshore with a small and messy NE wind swell this morning for the northern beaches. There were junky waist high plus things flopping over at Dee Why. They were looking a bit better at Northy, but the crowd factor was an issue. Sunny skies and little waves; could be worse!

Average swell height at sea is around the metre mark and the period is around 7 seconds.

Tide was low at 0820 and will hit a high at 1450 or so.

The wind is expected to swing NE and ramp up into a pretty standard late spring onshore of 10-20kts this afternoon. So, if you were able to winkle something out in your favourite north corner yesterday, I’d say you’ll be in with a chance for a repeat performance.

Have yourself a great Friday.

Weather Situation
A high pressure system lies to the east of the NSW coast and is expected to remain over the Tasman Sea until at least Sunday. A weak trough may bring a brief southerly change to southern parts of the coast later on Friday.
Forecast for Friday until midnight
Winds
Northerly 10 to 20 knots tending north to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots around midday then increasing to 10 to 20 knots by early evening.
Seas
Up to 2 metres.
Swell
Southeasterly about 1 metre.
Saturday 22 October
Winds
North to northeasterly 5 to 15 knots tending northeast to southeasterly up to 10 knots in the early morning then tending north to northeasterly around midday. Winds increasing to north to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the afternoon.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Easterly 0.5 metres.
Sunday 23 October
Winds
North to northeasterly 10 to 20 knots decreasing to 10 to 15 knots during the morning then increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the evening.
Seas
Up to 2 metres.
Swell
Northeasterly 0.5 metres.

Hello Friends,

Another smoky, hazy and tiny morning along the northern beaches.  The little 1 metre NE windswell is sputtering along at about 7 seconds apart, so it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll find much above the knee to waist high range. Wind is set to pick up and swing offshore, so I’d expect that to further diminish our surf prospects.

There is some hope that we might see a small south pulse tomorrow. If it gets into the waist to chest high range at exposed spots, I’d be very stoked because this morning’s wind forecast is for offshores (briefly) around lunchtime on Wednesday.

Long range outlook according to this morning’s WAM data remains pretty dire it has to be said.  There seems to be some hope of a slight improvement early next week, so here’s hoping…

Have yourself a top old Tuesday!

TIDES: L @0640, H @1315

Forecast for Tuesday until midnight

Winds

Northerly increasing 20 to 30 knots during the morning then tending westerly 20 to 30 knots during the afternoon.

Seas

Up to 3 metres.

Swell

Easterly about 1 metre.

Weather

Isolated thunderstorms offshore during this afternoon.

Wednesday 21 September

Winds

South to southwesterly 15 to 25 knots, reaching 30 knots at times, decreasing to 10 to 20 knots around dawn then tending west to southwesterly up to 15 knots during the morning. Winds becoming westerly up to 10 knots around midday then tending north to northeasterly during the afternoon then tending east to southeasterly by early evening.

Seas

Up to 2 metres decreasing to below 1 metre during the morning.

Swell

Northerly 1 metre tending southerly 1.5 metres from the morning.

Hello Friends,

Pretty much in line with expectations, this morning sees sunny skies and offshore winds. Sadly they’ve turned up to find maybe a metre of weak 7 second period north east wind swell waiting for them. (But there  are brighter prospects for later in the week. )

No sign of anyone in the water at Dee Why, which I guess is hardly surprising. If you’re keen, the plan would be to check those places that extract the maximum from a NE swell.

On a much brighter note, this morning’s run of the swell forecast models is looking rather interesting. For the past few days they’ve been pointing toward solid swell for the weekend, but the wind call was for southerlies. Today the Bureau is advising that it expects the dominant wind direction to be SW to W from Friday through to Monday.

It looks as though the swell could kick into the three metre range from the south late on Friday and to build gradually through Saturday to a 4 metre peak on Sunday. It’s good to see the predictions also showing average period ramping up at the same time into the 10-12 second range. The longer range predictions show the juicy conditions sticking around into the new week. As of this morning it looks as though Sunday morning could be epic at places that like SW wind and can handle 4-5 metres of 10-12 sec south swell. Why we might even have better waves than that contest in NYC…

Are you smilin’ yet?

On another note, I’m bummed to see that apparently no one wants to bid for our top ad position. Your ad could be there 24/7  for the rest of September for a very modest sum. If you know anyone with a surf related business, tell them about it because compared to a single day’s small display ad in the local paper, this is a really, really good deal. My fingers are crossed!

TIDES: L @1000, H @1635

Forecast for Wednesday until midnight

Winds

Southwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending southeasterly up to 15 knots during the morning and east to northeast during the afternoon.

Seas

Up to 1.5 metres.

Swell

Northeasterly about 2 metres decreasing to 1 metre this afternoon and evening.

Thursday 8 September

Winds

East to southeasterly 5 to 10 knots tending east to northeasterly during the morning then tending northerly 10 to 15 knots later in the evening.

Seas

Below 1 metre.

Swell

Easterly about 1.5 metres.

Weather

Scattered thunderstorms offshore from the morning.

Hello Friends,

Not too fabulous looking this morning. There’s a short period little NE windswell flapping lightly as moth’s wing against the coast. The big ones are around waist high and you’re doing well if you can extract more than a couple turns before they fade away. Not much wind as the day got started, but the Bureau advises that it’ll be kicking up later and that it could be 20-25kts by evening. That being the case, we might get some fun ones at NE windswell spots toward dark.

From the shape of the swell models this morning, we’re probably going to have similar conditions again tomorrow, though if the wind goes hard enough, it should be a bit bigger.

Beyond that, the rune castings make for uninspiring reading. Basically it looks as though we’re in for little bumpy messy conditions until around Friday. As of this morning, the models are calling for a solid south swell to push in Friday night. The big question will be what Huey decides to do about the wind. At this stage it looks as though it could be walloped by strong onshores, so fingers crossed for a change to that particular setting…

Have yourself a great day!

TIDE: L @0740 and H @1420

Forecast for Monday until midnight

Winds

North to northeasterly 15 to 20 knots increasing to 20 to 25 knots by early evening.

Seas

1 to 2 metres.

Swell

Easterly 1 metre.

Tuesday 6 September

Winds

Northeast to northwesterly 15 to 25 knots, reaching 30 knots at times offshore.

Seas

Up to 3 metres decreasing to 2 metres during the morning.

Swell

Easterly 1.5 metres.

Hello Friends,

Went out for a look around this morning. High tide is doing a number on the close-together NE windswell. The main activity at Curly is from about the middle of the beach down to the south end. There were a fair number of bods out in front of the SLSC, but only a few north from there. Looked to be a longish wait to get one and the average size was struggling to get much above the waist high mark. Obviously there are a few bigger ones in the mix, but because the average period is so short, there are high proportion of one-turn wonder waves. You know the drill, take off, hit that first turn quick before it fades out.

Didn’t really stop for a long look at Dee Why as it seemed pretty disorganised and lumpy-bumpy. Given the direction and short period, I wouldn’t expect to see much up at the north end.

Figured the swell might be doing things at Northy, so had a quick look there. Usual crowd on it of course, but the same issues evident at Curly were plaguing it too. Sets were bigger though. And, if you didn’t mind risking a snapped board, there were some solid but rarely makeable little chambers unloading down toward carparks. Take off – quick turn – tuck in – BAM!

Wind is set to go NE this afternoon, so that could add a little to what we already have. Connoisseurs of onshore conditions could find something of interest for the late at their fave north corner.

Outlook continues to be for conditions to bumble along like this for Sydneysiders right through next weekend. TC Yasi looks as though it will stay well away from our swell window. The Queensland points might get something out of it, but the wind and cloudy skies may take the gloss off and right now the models are only showing an 18-24 pulse around Wed-Thr.

Speaking of models, I’m intrigued to see that at least one of them is showing some interesting developments in the southern ocean toward mid next week. Way, way too early to call it, but… right now there’s at least a tiny hope…

Here’s what I wrote earlier…

Looks like some little NE windswell around this morning. The morning fog is burning off fast as we head toward a hot day. Tide’s high early and it seems the little windswell has gone around to the NE overnight, but better than that, it seems to have perked up a little. The average period is still a lacklustre 7 seconds, but average height is a couple metres at sea. As well the MHL buoy was showing peak seas at 4 metres. This doesn’t look right to me, so I’m wondering if maybe some idiot has tied up to the MHL buoy…

A couple bods were in the water at Dee Why where it looks to be in the waist to chest range and kinda weak and messy with the high tide.

TIDES: H @0800, L @1545

Weather Situation
A slow-moving high pressure system over the central Tasman Sea extends a ridge to the New South Wales north coast. During Tuesday northerly winds are expected to strengthen along the coast ahead of a brief late southerly change on the southern half of the coast.

Forecast for Tuesday until midnight
Winds: Northerly 15 to 25 knots, reaching 30 knots at times, tending north to northeasterly 15 to 20 knots around midday then becoming northeasterly 15 to 25 knots during the afternoon. Winds tending north to northeasterly 20 to 30 knots by early evening. Seas: Up to 3 metres decreasing to 2 metres around midday then increasing to 2 to 3 metres later in the evening. Swell: Northeasterly 0.5 to 2 metres.

Forecast for Wednesday
Winds: North to northwesterly 20 to 25 knots tending south to southwesterly 10 to 20 knots around dawn then tending northeast to southeasterly up to 10 knots around midday. Winds becoming northeasterly 10 to 20 knots during the afternoon then tending north to northeasterly 20 to 30 knots by early evening. Seas: Up to 3 metres decreasing below 2 metres around dawn then increasing to 3 metres later in the evening. Swell: Northeasterly 2 to 3 metres decreasing to 0.5 to 1.5 metres late in the evening.

Forecast for Thursday
Winds: North to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots, reaching 30 knots at times, becoming northerly 15 to 20 knots during the morning then tending northeast to southeasterly during the evening. Seas: Up to 3 metres decreasing to 2 metres during the morning. Swell: Northeasterly 0.5 to 2 metres. Isolated thunderstorms inshore, extending throughout from the morning.

Hello Friends,

Coming back from my half-yearly appointment with the liquid nitrogen gun I checked the situation from Curly to North Narrabeen. There are some mostly waist high and weak little things getting in for the relatively small number of takers at the latter two spots. The wind’s into it pretty strongly as expected, so you wouldn’t rate the overall quality too highly. But hey, at least you can sorta catch the odd one.

The coming week looks like being mostly about windy afternoon chop chasing at NE spots with relatively smooth but small conditions for the early risers. Today appears to be a reasonable template for right through to Saturday. The long range models aren’t showing anything too exciting at this stage. There don’t seem to be any significant systems coming into either our S-SE or E-NE swell windows, so my best guess is that the next ten days will be dominated by short period wind swell in the knee to waist high range (with the odd bigger one in the afternoons).

Here are a couple snaps from Northy at midday

earlier today I wrote:

Smooth and small, but not so small tha people at Dee Why this morning couldn’t pick up something. Mostly in the waist high range, but I managed to get a snap of one that was chest high plus. So they are out there if you’re in the spot. The MHL buoy is showing a metre of NE wind swell at about 7 seconds apart. High tide is at around 0920 in Sydney and the low will arrive at 1600. Wind is set to be n-ne 15-25kts later. Might even be a few thunderstorms about.

Will try to get in an update for this afternoon… in the meantime, go well!

Weather Situation from the Bureau for Sydney

A high pressure system over the southern Tasman Sea is slowly moving east. On Monday, the high will become semi-stationary near New Zealand extending a ridge to New South Wales north coast and a cold front will move along the south coast later, before weakening.
Forecast for Monday until midnight

Winds: North to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots. Seas: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: Easterly about 1.5 metres. Isolated thunderstorms from midday, contracting offshore late this evening.
Forecast for Tuesday

Winds: Northerly 10 to 20 knots. Seas: Up to 2 metres. Swell: Easterly about 1.5 metres. Isolated thunderstorms from the late morning until evening.
Forecast for Wednesday

Winds: Northerly 10 to 20 knots. Seas: Up to 2 metres. Swell: Easterly about 1.5 metres. Isolated thunderstorms inshore, extending throughout from the morning.

Hello Friends,

Well, it’s awful tiny this morning around the northern beaches. I was up for an early and ended up going for coffee instead. Need a few more waveless days before I’m ready to go out in anything I guess.

First spot on the checkout list was Dee Why at daybreak. Watched it with mate Barry for quite awhile before we decided the sub-waist high dribble just wasn’t going to tempt us. After a restorative coffee, I headed over the hill to see if there was something to surf at Curly.

Again, no dice. There were a couple bods up the north end, but the waits were exceedingly long and when they came, the sets were barely waist high – and then only for a second or two before they subsided into a bit of froth.

Took a flyer and headed north for a squizz at the Gardens-Narra stretch. There were a few folks in at Northy (always are) but as with elsewhere, the waits were very long and the payoffs very ordinary. You know when there are only half a dozen in there that it’s pretty dire. There were a couple similarly flabby, but slightly smaller peaks way down the beach too. If I still had my air mat, I mighta gone one of ‘em.

Surf outlook for today is basically more of the same. About the best I think we can hope for is maybe a small uptick for the late at those spots out of the expected NE’ly.

Tomorrow morning is pretty doubtful looking for the early. The current forecast is calling for a south change before lunch and with it an increase in the energy levels as the dominant swell direction swings to the south. With luck Weds will see decreasing S-SE’ly wind and continuing swell. Right now, midday Wednesday at south swell spots appears to be the pick of the week. The models currently project the south energy hanging around through Thursday before we’re back to quite small in Sydney – just in time for the weekend.

Go well with your day!

Tides: L @0900, H @1500
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Monday until midnight: Wind: N/NW 10/15 knots freshening to N/NE 15/20 knots in the afternoon and reaching 20/25 knots later.Sea: about 1 metre rising 1.5 to 2 metres in the afternoon. Swell: NE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: W/NW 10/15 knots ahead of S’ly 20/25 knots change later in the morning. Sea: about 1 metre rising to 2 to 3 metres behind the change.Swell: S/SE about 2 metres.
Wednesday: Wind: S/SE 15/25 knots easing.

Hello Friends,

Everybody in! Hot day and at least it’s not totally flat. We’re set for the usual NE wind as the day gets going, but for the early risers conditions were smooth everywhere. Only two problems. First, the swell has faded away to a weak, short period, waist high NE windswell. And second, the catchable ones are not arriving too frequently. Lots and lots of waiting for the healthy Sunday crowds.

Like yesterday, the best hope for this afternoon will be the semi-protected North corners. I’d be taking whatever you like to use for weak and small conditions.

The latest run of WAMs does not offer much hope for waves this coming week in the Sydney region (there could be a little something up north though). About the brightest spot on the data is Weds-Thurs when we could pick up a little south swell activity at the usual spots. If it gets to shoulder high on the sets, we’ll be doing well.

Enjoy your Sunday!

TIDES: H @1345, L @1945
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: N/NE 15/20 knots increasing to 20/25 later in the afternoon.Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres.Swell: E/NE about 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: N/NW 15/20 knots increasing to N/NE 20/25 knots in the afternoon. Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres. Swell: E/NE about 1.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: S/SE 20/30 knots change.

Not looking too big this morning at Dee Why.

Hello Friends,

Swell faded pretty abruptly yesterday and this morning sees small to very small conditions. It’s looking like waist high with the odd bigger one at Dee Why beach. The little windswell is coming out of the NE and the breeze was light early, so there just may be spots with better exposure that are a bit bigger.

Tide notwithstanding, the plan is to go asap because a S-SE change is coming through soon and once that happens, I’d say the surf options will diminish pretty severely across the middle part of the day. The change may bring some improvement to size at beaches copping the brunt of the wind, so there could be some messy onshore wind waves for the late.

Although surf quality is only so-so, the water’s warming up nicely and for that reason alone it’s worth just going for a paddle.

Have yourself a great day!

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: NW 10/15 knots inshore and 15/20 knots offshore, ahead of a S/SE change 20/25 knots early to mid morning, easing to SE 15/20 knots later.Sea: 1 to 2 metres, rising to 2 to 3 metres for a period during the day. Swell: E/SE 1 to 1.5 metres. Possible thunderstorms.
Saturday: Wind: Variable 5/10 knots at first, becoming E/SE 15/20 knots in the afternoon. Sea: less than 1 metre, rising to 1 to 2 metres in the afternoon. Swell: SE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Sunday: Wind: N/NE 15/25 knots.

No one visible in the water at 0800.

Hello Friends,

I was up in plenty of time to write my report for you, but the computer gods decided we need a poke apparently. Anyway, we’re back now, so I can now tell you that it’s very small and weak. Swell’s out of the NE at about a metre with an average period of just 7 seconds. The longer period component that was still hanging around yesterday morning has now vanished, so I wouldn’t be expecting any bomb sets.

Outlook is for the wind to build up from the NE as the day goes along and to eventually get up toward the 30kt mark. If that happens then we just might see some okay windwaves near dusk at those semi-exposed NE favourable locations like Curly and Northy.

Have yourself a top old Friday!

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Strong Wind Warning.
Friday until midnight: Wind: NW/NE 10/15 knots, increasing to N/NE 20/30 knots during the afternoon/evening. Sea: 1 to 2 metres, rising to 2 to 3 metres later. Swell: NE 1 to 1.5 metres. Possible afternoon thunderstorms.
Saturday: Wind: Early S change 15/20 knots, becoming SE/NE 15/20 knots in the afternoon.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: NE 1 to 2 metres. Possible thunderstorms.
Sunday: Wind: NW/NE 15/25 knots. Late S change 20/30 knots.