Stopped by south Narrabeen for a look around 1000 this morning. Lots of fine looking lines stacking in, but the high tide and banks weren’t playing well together. Sets were solidly overhead, but it was hard to get very far down the line, plus they were weirdly fat some of the time. Quite a few people having a go as well.
High tide at 0735 made for fat conditions early, but worse was the powering SSE wind chopping it up everywhere. Out at sea the swell was 2.5 metres from the SE abut the average period was a gutless 8 seconds.
As usual for a Saturday, I had a look at both the Collaroy-Narrabeen and the Dee Why-Longy stretches and the short version is that the only people in the water were at Collaroy – where it was knee to waist – and Dee Why point where it wasn’t much bigger. Both were fat and inconsistent too.
Outlook is for the conditions to stay about the same today and tomorrow, although Sunday should see the wind back off a little more in the morning. By Monday some of the models are showing more easterly swell and slightly smaller as we head into a week of what looks to be fairly typical marginal summer conditions. Not quite flat, but pretty small and undistinguished shortish period mainly east wind swell basically.
Have yourself a great Saturday one and all!
Dramatic daybreak skies
Northy looking unworthy
Whiterock maybe… but no takers at 0630
Fat and full at Collaroy
South Narrabeen some size, but no quality
Dee Why point bodyboarder gets a slide in the slop
Interesting mix of NE and SE swell this morning in Sydney. The SE component was dominant and according to the MHL data wwas 1.5 metres at 9 seconds. So, it’s definitely smaller than yesterday. That said, I saw chest plusses at North Narrabeen, Long Reef and No Man’s on my run around this morning.
Wind was light offshore early, but it should go NE soon and be into the 10-15 kt range. So, earlier is better.
Tide will hit low at 1045.
Outlook is for the swell energy to hold about the current size through to Monday, then it looks like slumping into the marginal range from Tuesday afternoon onward.
Tomorrow is the 22nd Ocean Care Day at Manly and as it has from the beginning, Surfrider Foundation will be running its stall. This year one of Surfrider’s big issues will be getting action taken on microplastics and in aid of that, there’ll be a petition on the stall calling on parliament  to ban microplastic beads.
Have yourself a great day and see you tomorrow at Manly!
Saturday morning crew all over it at Northy
Thumping, unmakeable, shories at south Narrabeen.
No Man’s fun one
Another set arrives at a bank ion Dee Why beach
Only little ones at the point but there should be sets
Longy lines looking alluring at 0640
Weather Situation
A slow moving high pressure system is located over the Tasman Sea near the southern NSW coast. This system will maintain southeasterly winds over the north coast and northeasterly winds over the central south coast for the next few days. From late Sunday a weak trough will slowly move up the south coast and the high will move further east, causing winds to shift east to northeasterly along the whole coast during Monday.
Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds
North to northeasterly about 10 knots increasing to 10 to 15 knots in the morning. Winds reaching up to 20 knots inshore during the afternoon and evening.
Seas
Below 1 metre, increasing to around 1 metre around midday, then increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres during the afternoon..
Swell
Easterly 1 to 1.5 metres, decreasing to around 1 metre during the afternoon.
Weather
Mostly sunny.
Sunday 6 December
Winds
North to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots, reaching up to 20 knots offshore in the late evening.
Seas
Around 1 metre, increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres around midday.
Swell
Easterly 1 to 1.5 metres, decreasing to around 1 metre during the morning.
Weather
Mostly sunny.
Monday 7 December
Winds
Northeasterly 10 to 15 knots.
Seas
Around 1 metre.
Swell
Easterly 1 to 1.5 metres, decreasing to around 1 metre during the afternoon.
Saturday started off with glassy conditions along the northern beaches. We had a touch under a metre of 10-sec east wind swell too. For the most part it was producing weak little sub waist high peaks here and there. There were waves from about No Man’s to the life guard hut at Longy and around the corner, the catchable stuff started at about Marquesas and appeared here and there all the way up to Northy.
First tide of the day is a high at 0735 and low will be at 1335. Wind will gradually get going and by this afternoon it’ll be NE 10-15 kts.
Looking ahead, the coming week is shaping to be a quiet one surfwise. The various models are all predicting marginal to nearly flat conditions thanks to a steady diet of sub-1 metre short period wind swell. We’re into summery settings already.
Have yourself a top old Saturday one and all!
Teaser at far north Collaroy
Small crew hunting little waves at Northy 0615
SUP putt-putting into a No Man’s ripple 0620
Dee Why beach comber runs a few metres before fading out
A few snaps from the Saturday morning circumnavigation of the Plateau to check the surf situation for my weekly radio gig on 702 ABC…
Skies were cloudy but temps were comparatively mild and the wind was minimal. The MHL buoy was picking up about 1.3 metres of 13-second SSE swell at 0600. Set wave faces at the best peaks were into the chest high range, but mostly you should expect a lot smaller than that.
Tide was high at 0515 and is now dropping to the low at 1115.
Thoughts about the outlook below the pics…
Set wave at Longy Lugga
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No Man’s set about 0700
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Bomb set at south Narra
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Northy about 0700
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The models are projecting smaller and weaker conditions tomorrow and Monday. The Bureau’s MetEye model is showing a couple of metres of swell developing on Tuesday. The problem is that it’s also showing 20-25 kts of NE wind too. Since MetEye doesn’t indicate swell direction or period, recourse to the NOAA-based modelling tells us that it should be mainly moderate period (13-14 sec) south with a mix of short period east wind chop. So, north corners might be the best shot.
The models project the swell event to fade out by Wednesday noon, but for another brief south pulse to push in for Friday afternoon – with offshores a possibility.
On a tight schedule so will just post some pictures and then, if the coverage permits, will attempt to add some details later.
Short version is that swell has dropped dramatically and is now around the 2.5 metre mark as the day kicks off. It’s coming from the ESE at about 10-sec apart. This morning sees lots of waves and horrible looking water with light offshores. The point at Dee Why was working in the chest to head range and the beach was maybe a touch bigger and seemed to be peakier than in a while. Not tremendous quality though. For that you could look elsewhere, like the north end of the Collaroy to Narrabeen stretch. Pollution is likely to be terrible the closer you get to Northy. Wave quality from there south was very good. Offshore, shoulder plus and heaps of peaks.
About a metre of E-ESE wind swell with an average period of close to 9 seconds washing into Sydney as Saturday got started. Surface conditions were glassy to start and skies were mostly clear. Water’s around the 23 mark.
Set wave faces at the magnets (eg Northy and the Pole) were in the waist to waist plus range as we came off high tide. Wind will go NE before long and by close of play the Bureau says to expect 15-20 kts of the stuff to be tearing into the exposed stretches.
Wind is to be more northerly tomorrow morning ahead of an early afternoon south change. The latter doesn’t look like improving the swell energy levels though.
Speaking of swell energy levels, I wish I could say the Goat got it wrong in his latest forecast, but of course he’s more or less on the money according to the models. Basically it’s shaping to be a week of marginal, get in early type conditions. If you find anything above the waist high mark, you’ll be doing well I’d say. There’s really not much of anything to get hopeful about in this morning’s predictions for the coming week. About the best we can hope for is something into the mildly interesting range from the south around Thursday, but at this stage I’m not jumping up and down.
Have yourself a fun Saturday everyone!
Tides: H @0520, L @1210 H @1815
Practically home for brekkie at far north Collaroy
0640 Northy Crew hard at work
Scary clouds menace container ship
You go your way, I’ll go mine. Pole at 0645
Butterbox fishers, no surfers
Little Long Reef ride
Weather Situation
A weak high pressure ridge lies across the Tasman Sea. During Saturday northerly winds along the New South Wales coast will increase ahead of a southerly change associated with a cold front expected to develop on the far south coast early Sunday, then extend to the north coast overnight.
Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds
North to northeasterly about 10 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots in the early afternoon. Winds reaching up to 25 knots offshore in the late evening.
Seas
Below 1 metre, increasing to 1 to 2 metres during the afternoon.
Swell
Easterly around 1 metre.
Weather
Partly cloudy.
Sunday 1 March
Strong Wind Warning for Sunday for Sydney Coast
Winds
Northerly 15 to 25 knots shifting southerly in the early afternoon. Winds reaching up to 30 knots in the evening.
Seas
1.5 to 2.5 metres.
Swell
Easterly around 1 metre.
Weather
Becoming cloudy. 80% chance of showers. The chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening.
Monday 2 March
Winds
South to southeasterly 15 to 25 knots tending east to southeasterly below 10 knots during the afternoon.
Seas
1.5 to 2.5 metres, decreasing to 1 metre during the morning.
Swell
Easterly 1 to 1.5 metres, decreasing to around 1 metre during the morning.
Weather
Cloudy. 30% chance of a shower
South Narrabeen was firing up in autumnesque style late in the afternoon and I managed to get 150 or so pictures of the action. If you were in the water around sunset just north of Marquesas, check ’em out. And if you weren’t, look and weep!
(fyi, if you want to see all the pictures, just click on any of these and the gallery will open in a new window)