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

Grey morning for Duke’s Day

Hello Friends,

I’ve found myself a little corner of the Freshie SLSC to tap out an abbreviated report before I go beach cleaning with the Surfrider crew.

Surf situation is similar to yesterday, only glassier. The swell is 1.5 metres from the east. The period is starting to ramp up though and as I write this is currently showing at about 9 seconds. Quality was not great when I looked around though.

There were a few bods in waiting around at the Bower, but I didn’t see anyone catch anything. The Manly stretch is seeing the swell but like everywhere else after months of mainly small to flat conditions, the shutdown to rideable ratio is off the scale. Expect 10 straighthanders for every makeable section I’d say.

Freshie is very, very busy and from a surf standpoint, not terribly interesting. More shutdownitis. It’s the same story around at Curly where there are plenty of bods chasing some fairly uninspiring lumps.

Outlook is, as the Goat said a day or so ago, for a steady increase in wave energy as a longer period NE swell starts filling in. It’ll hit up north first obviously, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few sets in the mix for us by late this afternoon.

We’re headed for a low tide around midday, so the shutdowns will almost certainly get more nasty. On the other hand, it looks as though the wind will be fading as the day goes along and by tomorrow we could have NW for the first time in awhile. That could work with the swell at some spots…

time to go make myself useful picking up rubbish. Catchya later!

Weather Situation
A high pressure system near New Zealand is maintaining a ridge to the far north coast of New South Wales. Tropical Cyclone Vania is over New Caledonia. During today a deep, slow-moving, complex low pressure system will move south of Tasmania, where it should remain till Monday. An associated weak southerly change will affect the southern half of the coast on Saturday, with a stronger southerly change expected Sunday night and into Monday, as this low moves further east.

Forecast for Saturday until midnight
Winds: Northerly 10 to 20 knots tending north to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots around midday then becoming northeasterly up to 10 knots later in the evening. Seas: Up to 2 metres decreasing to below 1 metre during the afternoon. Swell: Easterly about 2 metres.

Forecast for Sunday
Winds: Northwest to southwesterly 5 to 10 knots tending southeast to southwesterly around dawn then tending northeast to southeasterly up to 15 knots around midday. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Northeasterly 2 metres.

Forecast for Monday
Winds: Northerly 10 to 15 knots tending northwest to southwesterly up to 10 knots during the morning then tending east to southeasterly up to 15 knots during the afternoon. Seas: Below 1 metre. Swell: Northeasterly 2 metres.