"Stay happy and you'll be perfectly fine" - Jack Norris

Quiet out there… too quiet

The beach looked pretty quiet at 0730.
The beach looked pretty quiet at 0730.

Hello Friends,

Day started out with clear skies over Sydney, light offshores and just about no swell. What we have is out of the SSE at maybe half a metre on average. The period is averaging about 7 seconds, so it’s pretty close to flat.

However, there’s something interesting going on with the peak period setting. At around midnight it raced up into the 14 second range. Looking at the data from Batemans Bay, it appears there was a similar spike in the same value at midday yesterday and shortly thereafter the average period started moving up. It’s now at around the 12 sec mark. I mention this, because it’s consistent with some of the models which are calling for a similar pulse in average period to get to Sydney. If it does, then we could find some mal-able little sets turning up at the exposed spots.

Outlook for the rest of the work week is currently pretty ordinary. We should have pretty reasonable size (2-3m) swell from the southern quarters, but the wind will also be out of the same direction and it’ll be in the 15-20 kt range most of the time. So, anywhere that’s protected enough to surf is likely to be where we all turn up looking for a wave. If I had to pick a day to keep clear, it’d be Friday morning before the wind gets going. The models are currently suggesting that the swell could be 3-4 metres from the ESE.

We shall see what we shall see…

Go well with your day!

Tide was low at 0725 and will be high at 1344.

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Monday until midnight: Wind: W/NW 10/15 knots, turning SW.Sea: about 1 metre. Swell: SE less than 1 metre.
Tuesday: Wind: SW 15/20 knots, turning S/SE 20/25 knots during the late morning or afternoon, reaching 25/30 knots offshore.Sea: 1 to 2 metres, rising to 2 to 3 metres. Swell: S/SE 2 to 3 metres. Isolated thunderstorms.
Wednesday: Wind: SE 10/20 knots.