Hello Friends,

Looks as though Sydney should have southerly conditions this morning, at 0545 there was 10-15kt of south wind and the swell was an into the useful range 2 metres at 9 seconds apart from the south. Semi-protected south corners ought to have at least something rideable. Should clear up as the day goes along and the wind is set to swing through the easterly quarters to the NE this afternoon late.

Looks as though this is as big as it gets for then next week. The models are showing a very brief long period pulse around Tuesday, so you never know, it might get interesting for a few hours at least…

A morning shower or two, chiefly near the coast. Fine, partly cloudy
afternoon. Light to moderate southwest winds tending southeast, then
northeast in the evening.
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: SW/SE 10/15 knots, tending E/NE 5/10 knots in the evening.Sea: about 1 metre. Swell: S/SE 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: NW to 10 knots, tending NE 10/15 knots in the afternoon.Sea: to 1 metre. Swell: S/SE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NW/NE 10 knots, freshening to 15/20 knots from NE during afternoon.

Straight outta SoCal
Got some fun little west swell waves at Pitas yesterday. As the tide dropped, the top of the kilometre long right point started to fire up with some zippery waist to chest high plus energy. I personally scored a number of 200+ metre rides and I saw quite a few that were up to twice as far. Not super crowded either. The weird thing is that although it’s now well into autumn, the temperatures are close to the height of summer. At some places it was up to 38 yesterday.

Here’s a snap I took from the water…

Pitas section about to standup and hone for a couple hundred metres.

Ya gotta wait for these sets...

The super peak still offering a few for the dedicated.

Hello Friends,

Waves around this morning and the wind wasn’t beating it up at Dee Why as of 0800. Wind is due to be a factor though. Sets in the beachy were head high plus and the point was showing maybe shoulder high. I’d expect some bomb sets to be in the mix because the buoy is currently swell + sea heights of 4 metres and there is some 10 sec period stuff in amongst the 9 sec waves.

Surf prospects for the next few days look okayish to me. Not great maybe, but it shouldn’t take a lot of internal dialogue to get you into the water if you’re even remotely stoked. Beyond that, things are really looking interesting. A substantial region of fetch is showing on the model projections for this weekend. It looks as though it will push down from the north and start washing the east coast with swell from late Saturday through Monday. If you have a fave east swell spot, might be a plan to book yourself some time to check it on Sunday and Monday. Usual caveats apply: these are computer model projections. They get it right most, but not all of the time.

High tide’s set to arrive around 0854 and low will come along at 1417.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: E/SE 10/15 knots reaching 15/20 knots at times. Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres. Swell: S/SE 2 to 3 metres decreasing.
Thursday: Wind: E/SE 10/15 knots reaching 15/20 knots at times. Sea: 1 to 1.5 metres.Swell: SE 1.5 to 2 metres.
Friday: Wind: SE/NE 10/20 knots.

Lotsa punters punting on pointy ones.

Sets stacking into Dee Why for the huge crew to feast upon.

Hello Friends,

Just go now if you possibly can. Offshore, shoulder to head high plus at south spots. Easing offshore winds, sunny skies, low tide at midday…. whadya want? Oh, no crowds? Um, sorry, they were already there at first light. Everywhere will be jammed, but the swell seems to be pretty consistent so just be patient and you’ll definitely score.

This is going to be a big shooting day for yours truly, so expect a heap of pics later.

In the meantime, I’ve posted another batch of 350 (seriously!) I shot in just 45 minutes at a very, very good high tide Dee Why beach just on dusk last night. If you were out there you might wanna have a look through and see if I caught your inimitable stylings. I shoot anything that moves, but try to pick the peak moments when you are least gooselike!

Have yourself a top old day.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: SW 20/25 knots easing to 15/20 knots during the day.Sea: 2 to 2.5 metres abating 1 to 2 metres. Swell: S 2 to 3 metres.
Monday: Wind: W/SW 10/15 knots tending SW 15/20 knots in the evening.Sea: to 1 metre rising 1 to 2 metres. Swell: S about 2 metres
Tuesday: Wind: SW/SE 10/15 knots.

South swell lighting up the banks for the early risers.

Not as consistent as the beachy, but sets now and again.

Hello Friends,

Shaping up to be a pretty nice day out there, albeit somewhat chilly (we’re going to a high of around 16). And we have waves! The hardy early risers have scored themselves some rather tasty shoulder high sets at first light. Skies are clear and the westerly should gradually decrease as the day goes along.

The good news is that it’s looking as though it’ll only be getting better. The models are currently showing good prospects right into the middle of the coming week. The winds should be lighter than we’ve had over the last couple days too. It’ll be cold but mostly clear.

We’re coming off a high tide at 0608 and heading toward a low at 1139.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Strong Wind Warning.
Saturday until midnight: Wind: W/SW 20/30 knots, chiefly offshore.Sea: 2 to 3 metres offshore.Swell: S increasing to 2 to 3 metres.
Sunday: Wind: SW 20/25 knots easing to 15/20 knots during the day.Sea: 2 to 2.5 metres abating 1 to 2 metres. Swell: S about 3 metres.
Monday: Wind: SW 15/20 knots.

Hello all,

Went for a wander this morning to see if I could get a few pics before the southerly took effect.

First stop was Freshwater. There were actually a few bods in the water too. Swell was getting in there okay, but the banks were/are extremely ordinary. There were very few makeable sections on offer and the swell was looking pretty gutless as well.

The sections were very short and the surface was starting to ruffle up.

Next visit was the south end of Curly. Nothing worth taking a picture of it has to be said. Just its usual disorganised and sloppy self, but I could see a little knot of surfpersons bobbing around up the north end, so I headed up that way for a look. Turned out there were some good size sets (shoulder head high) getting in. But as at Freshy, the relatively short period meant they didn’t have tremendous power. Quality was also so-so. Not as sloppy and messy as the south end, but some way from being all time Curly.

Size showing at the north end of the beach this morning.

Over the hill at Dee Why it was looking glassy and the super peak was throwing up the odd tasty looking morsel for the attendants. Again, the waves at a distinctly sluggish quality, but they were clean and fun looking if you got a reasonable section. Nothing doing at the point, and didn’t really seem to be any surfers up toward Longy.

This one stood up and then shutdown a couple seconds later.

As I was getting ready to take off, I noticed a young bloke named Milan getting out of the water with one of those Alia boards. When I stopped him for a chat about the board, it turned out that he’d borrowed it off a mate. He told me that they’re really fun but that obviously you have to ride them quite differently from ordinary boards. If you’re standing on ‘em, you have to keep a wide, and low stance in order to hold your line. They can be ridden bellyboard style too and apparently if you get them into the pocket and angled down just the right amount, they’ll race along in that position for as long as the wave holds. I’d love to try one.

Finding another way to enjoy ocean energy.

From Dee Why I headed up to North Narrabeen – but not because I expected to find any waves. During the big swell of last month I’d heard that a fair amount of sand had been carved away from the dunes. As it happens I’ve not been up that way for a look in some weeks, so I was curious to see the situation. There was one person in the water when I got there, but the conditions were so ordinary that they didn’t get even one wave while I was checking out the dunes.

As you can see from the picture below, the dunes really have been cut back amazingly. If those dune faces were waves, I’d be calling the 1.5 to 2x overhead! Since winter has only just started, you have to wonder how much more sand will be carved away by springtime. It’s worth remembering that those big dunes to the north of the clubhouse are a fairly recent (as in the last 25-30 years) accumulation. Hope that their re-integration with the beach and offshore banks will be a good thing for Northy.

Lotta sand has been moved back into the break I'd say...

Hello Friends

Decided to do a quick survey of a few nearby beaches before it got dark. First stop was Mactier street to see if anything was showing along the Collaroy-Narrabeen stretch. Twas very small along the Gardens to Collaroy zone. Only saw one person in the water, and they didn’t manage to latch on to any of the waist high sets coming in. Although I didn’t keep going north, I grabbed a shot looking up toward Northy. From the backs evident in the shot, I’m guessing there were some pretty okay size sets coming into the teeth of the stiff and cold offshore winds.

At dusk, interesting looking backs...

Hooked down to Curly to get another fix on the swell energy levels. Just glanced at Longy and Dee Why on the way past, and it was plain that the swell had jumped quite a bit since lunchtime. Around at Curly there were a fair number of bods in the water both at the south and north ends. Damn chilly standing there taking pictures, so I can only imagine how toasty they would’ve been in the water! Sets were pushing into the head high range and it seemed to be quite consistent.

Pretty busy in the water in the waning evening light.

The forecast for tomorrow morning hasn’t shifted much. It’ll be windier early, maybe slackening off a little in the middle of the day and then coming up again in the afternoon. The models reckon we should be seeing some 3-4 metre 10sec south swell across the next couple days. It’ll be pretty sharpish tomorrow for the early – the Bureau is currently calling for a low of 6 degrees (it’s supposed to warm up to 16 later).

First tide of the day will be a low at 442am. The high will be 1.2 metres at 1034.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Gale warning.
Wednesday until midnight: Wind: SW 25/35 knots, 30/40 knots offshore.Sea: 2.5 to 4 metres. Swell: S/SE around 2 metres.
Thursday: Wind: S/SW 20/30 knots, reaching 35 knots offshore early and again late. Sea: 2.5 to 3.5 metres.Swell: S 2 to 3 metres.
Friday: Wind: SW 10/20 knots, 25 knots offshore early, easing during the day and tending NW late.
Saturday: Wind: NW winds 10/20 knots.

Gee, I’m kinda thirsty after all that running around and typing and stuff… wouldn’t mind a coffee… or maybe a Coopers…

Hi all,

Went for a quick one around 1100 at Dee Why in the SE’ly. The tops were getting blown over a bit, but some of the faces were clean enough and size as Robbo’s noted was quite acceptable. It was moderately crowded but not a major issue for anyone from what I could tell. Got a couple in the shoulder high range and consider it worth having done for sure. I’d give it a 5/10 for acceptably average. (For latest numbers, see tags below this post.)

At the moment it looks as though we should still have a few sets around tomorrow and into Friday. Swell direction is predicted to swing from SSE around to the east by Friday. Wind forecast doesn’t look too nutty either. From Sunday on, the models are suggesting we could have small to nearly, but not quite flat conditions.

I gather from one of twitter people I follow, (stevieenglish) that Maroubra was okay at around the same time as well.

And now for something different. PB told me about a panorama picture taken at Dee Why back in 1917 that he’d spotted at one of the beachside unit blocks. We located it and I grabbed a shot of the end show that shows the point. Doesn’t look as though the rocks have changed much in the 9+ decades since…

Looks like a nice little one on the inside...

Went for a splash at Manly around 0900. Wasn’t too crowded and there were some sets into the head high range. But they were often rather soft and fat and slow. As the tide dropped, the crowd ramped up and the waves got a little more oomph. South wind was providing a little chop though. Seemed to be waves from far south Steyne to Queenscliff and even a few little ones for the crew out at the Bower.

Coming back to Collaroy, I had a quick squizz at Curly and Dee Why. Only a few people up the north end of Curly and the southerly, though not strong, was into it. Dee Why was kinda messy and ordinary looking, but there seemed to be a few little ones at the point.

Had a peak at the Collaroy Narrabeen stretch as well. Still some waves there too, with the southern extent being the pick (but not Collaroy itself). Pretty minimal numbers in the water too, but the wind, as the pics show, was a factor.

Huge amount of weed on the inside.

Little one rolls into the corner out of the wind.

SUP rider pulls into one of the bigger ones this morning.

Fair number of folk and not a lot of size at the Bower this morning.

Not too many in the water around midday and a few to be had.

South of the Gardens, a little peak unfolds.

Ripping a nice little cutty mid-morning.

Glassy and overcast on high tide.