Hello Friends,

Only tiny, infrequent lines appearing at Dee Why this morning. One person was in the water up the beach from the SLSC at about 0700, but I didn’t see them come close to catching anything. I’d say you’d be doing pretty well if you found anything to propel you toward the sand this morning.

According to the MHL buoy data, the swell at sea is around the metre mark. It’s coming from the south at a reasonably healthy 10 seconds apart but there’s just not much of anything showing.

Outlook for the coming week continues to be for small to flat. Winds are expected to go around to the SE tomorrow and to stay out of the southerly quarters through to the weekend. The hopeful signs in the long range forecast of a day or two ago have become less so in this morning’s forecast round up. Oh well.

Have yourself a great Monday!

TIDES: H @0800, L @1350

Weather Situation
A cold front is expected to cross much of the state on Monday with a southerly change moving over coastal waters, strong in the south. A high pressure ridge should then extend over southern and western NSW while a weak trough lies of the north coast.
Forecast for Monday until midnight
Winds
Westerly 10 to 15 knots tending south to southwesterly during the afternoon then tending south to southeasterly at 15 to 20 knots by early evening.
Seas
Below 1 metre increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres in the evening.
Swell
Easterly 1 metre.
Weather
The chance of thunderstorms offshore late this evening.
Tuesday 30 August
Winds
South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots tending east to southeasterly up to 10 knots by early evening.
Seas
Up to 1.5 metres.
Swell
Easterly 1 metre tending southeasterly from the morning.
Wednesday 31 August
Winds
Southeast to southwesterly 5 to 10 knots tending east to northeasterly during the evening.
Seas
Below 1 metre.
Swell
Southeasterly about 1 metre.

Thought I’d head up the peninsula to see if the swell was doing anything interesting. Drove as far as Avalon where I discovered a small group at the south end waiting and waiting for the very occasional shoulder high set wave. Watched for quite awhile before deciding it was just too inconsistent to set up the camera. Checked in at the peak in Newport to see what the dozen or so bods were doing on it. It was more consistent than Av, but the larger number of people meant the wait for waves was probably about the same on average. Size was a touch smaller too. Took the following picture:

Next stop was Mona Vale. Again, smallish (compared to the last few days) and rather busy considering. I think the swell was just too south for the place to really start working properly, so after watching for a bit, I headed off south to see what Northy was looking like. It was a case of hmmm… yeah… busy, inconsistent with the odd shoulder high one, but like Mona, not really the best swell direction for the place. Still, it did produce at least something for the camera…

Stopped for a squizz at Longy. Waves were a touch smaller on average I thought, but there were lots of fine folk chasing ‘em from the Lugga to the Dee Why end. Shutdowns were well in front of makeable sections, but I walked down to the water’s edge and took a snap for your amusement.

Last stop on my little journey was Curl Curl. It certainly looked a picture, particularly toward the south end. I watched for some time before finally deciding that since this is the last of the sunny weather and offshore waves for awhile, that I might as well do some shooting. I spent nearly an hour grabbing snaps (including some of a nice chap who introduced himself as a long time RealSurf fan). They’ve just finished processing, but I can’t upload them yet because the hundreds of shots I got yesterday morning at Manly and in the evening at Dee Why are still making their way to the server. Should be up by this evening I hope! Here’s a sample…

Hello Friends,

The story of the morning is that our lovely run of swell and weather is fading rapidly away. This morning the MHL buoy is showing that the primary swell direction is pretty close to dead south and the average height at sea is just a hair above a metre. The only setting that hasn’t changed much from yesterday is the all important period. It’s still very close to ten seconds and as a consequence there was a reason for the punters to be on it at Dee Why point as the sun came into view over the horizon. The sets are around the chest to head high mark, so it’s not looking too bad. I’d expect the other south spots to be showing as well, so get out there if you can…

Wind is light westerly right now, but the call is for it to swing SW and to start ramping up strongly. The weather is set to be sunny this morning, but by this evening we could be seeing a few showers as we head into what looks to be a pretty blustery weekend. The Bureau says we’re going to see a return to grey and showery weather for the next week.

Happily, I’ve shot us a nice record of the swell action, so we can look back and reflect upon Huey’s excellent work. As I write this a few hundred pictures from yesterday morning at Manly (I’d call it 8 out of 10) and Dee Why beach in the late afternoon are uploading to my galleries. It’ll be a few hours before they’re all up, but sometime this afternoon I should be able to switch them on…

In the meantime, I might try to find one more shooting sesh before the great conditions go away… say hi if you see me down there and go well with your day.

TIDES: L @0800, H @1400

Weather Situation

A complex low pressure system lies near Tasmania with an associated trough over the western Tasman Sea. During Friday the low will move slowly to the east and a high pressure system will move south of the Bight extending a ridge to New South Wales north coast. The high is expected to move slowly east over the next few days strengthening the ridge across the Tasman Sea.

Forecast for Friday until midnight

Winds: Southwesterly 10 to 20 knots tending south to southwesterly 20 to 30 knots by early evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres increasing to 1.5 to 2 metres by early evening then increasing to 2 to 3 metres later in the evening. Swell: Southeasterly about 2 metres.

Forecast for Saturday

Winds: South to southwesterly 25 to 30 knots becoming southerly 20 to 25 knots by early evening then decreasing to 15 to 20 knots later in the evening. Seas: 2 to 3 metres. Swell: Southerly 2 to 3 metres.

Forecast for Sunday

Winds: South to southeasterly 15 to 20 knots becoming southeasterly 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: Southerly about 2 metres.

T

Looks like a good morning for beachcombing...

Hello Friends,

Lovely morning for Saturday in Sydney, but the surf prospects are not too flash. If you’re extra keen, you might be able to extract a knee to waist high set wave at a south facing spot. The swell out at sea is coming from the south at about 10 seconds apart on average. But because it’s only a metre or so, I’m not exceptionally hopeful. Dee Why looks pretty close to flat for instance and I’d be surprised if it was dramatically bigger elsewhere.

Outlook for the next little while is not encouraging. The Bureau says we should start to see a few showers toward evening and more of the same tomorrow. That would be neither here nor there if we had some waves to play with, but from the look of the models, we’re in for a spell of flatness through the middle of the week.

Happily those same models are still showing a broad area of easterly fetch to the NE of NZ that will, with luck actually come to pass. Should it do so, we could be looking at a fun size east swell developing from about Thursday morning. Good to have something to pin one’s hopes upon…

Go well with your day!

ps: want to hear my surf report and forecast chat from this morning on ABC 702? Click here!

Pretty sky above South Head

Classic Hawkesbury river fog splashes over Lion Island around 0915.