My lust for huge wave videos continues, (Click the 4 little arrows just right of the HD letters on the video to see this full screen, its awesome) but first, our local update……We still have a small swell approaching what seems to be Thursday night after midnight, on our beaches Friday morning. Now, will the offshore winds Thursday and Thursday night keep the small swell from hitting the actual beaches, that is the question.
Thursday morning, there may be some fun knee high waves at the Cape here. High tide at 7:20 am approx., so anytime after that if you have a long board.
Friday morning, we could have some thigh high waves here, if………..the offshore winds don’t keep it offshore. The reason why I believe we could get something, is the moving swell period chart comes sweeping in a few hours before daybreak with a 9 second period and a fetch that looks to be 500 miles or so.
Best scenario, thigh high and glassy. Worst, glassy shorebreak and a nice day to surf fish 🙂
Saturday the period drops one notch, but also a chance of something rideable then.
I’m trying to be optimistic and realistic. 50/50 chance for Friday morning fun waves.
The video, is a huge swell that hit Puerto Escondido Mexico with some 30 to 50 foot faces, and a crowd of the big waves surfers there.
Today (Saturday around 12:00 PM) at Lori Wilson Park, they had a contest and the waves were nice even with the fairly strong onshore winds. Size was solid waist to stomach high with maybe some bigger sets. Fairly long workable shoulders for longboarders and some nice sections for shortboarders. Friday nite in Satellite Beach they were waist to stomach high with high onshore winds but really good form around 5:30 Pm for longboard, marginal rides for short board.
Quiksilver Ceremonial Punta de Lobos 2011contest, from magicseaweed.com, the first contest on the big wave tour event.
Sunday morning, it should be solid waist high plus in Cocoa Beach and further south. At 6 Pm Saturday night it was around 4 feet at 8 seconds at the 120 mile buoy, and between 11 and 12 today it climbed up to 7.5 feet at 8 seconds, so at least its still a solid wind swell. Oh yeah, the winds should be NW at first light and turning NNW for an hour or so and N to NE sometime between 9 and 10 Am.
Yeah, predicting the winds can be iffy, but as I looked at the weather.com hourly winds for Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach, for the last 36 hours, it’s been consistently showing those wind models, so I’ll give it a 70% chance of holding true. If I’m wrong, shoot me ! 🙂
Oh, high tide is around 5 Am Sunday morn, and as ya’ll know High going low is always better than low going high. So get out by 6:30 to 7:30 and ya got perfect tides and good winds.
By the way, the best breaks to surf for NNW winds are anything North of Minuteman Causeway. That’s because direct North winds are from 2 to 6 degrees offshore for streets North of Minuteman, and when you get South of minuteman like the streets, 8th, 16th, O Club, Perkins Hightowers, those are all South wind breaks because Minuteman at Coconuts forms a bay if you will that curves out to the left or the right as you look at the ocean. (sorry, it’s an anal-retentive thing I did by plotting Google map with Vectors and all to determine the exact angle each break faces whether it be South or North;)
I forgot, ya’ll know about my obsession with big wave surfing events, the video here is Chile, Brazil’s Marcos Monteiro took top honours in the season’s first Big Wave World Tour event at the Quiksilver Ceremonial Punta De Lobos Big Wave Invitational in 30ft plus surf. Many of the big name big wave surfers were there. The list of the full cast of the 2011 Quiksilver Ceremonial were: Jamie Sterling, Kohl Christensen, Grant Washburn, Carlos Burle, Marcos Monteiro, Peter Mel, Ben Wilkerson, Cristian Merello, Greg Long (won the Eddie against Kelly Slater), Gabriel Villaran, Frank Solomon, Nic Lamb, Joao De Macedo, Eric Rebiere, Sebastian De Romana, Rusty Long, Felipe Cesarano, Andres Flores, Ramon Navarro, Diego Medina, Fernando Zegers, Reinaldo “Chacha” Ibarra, Matias Lopez, and Leon Vicuna.
Anyhow, have a great sesh Sunday, and stop by the The 10th Annual Waterman’s Challenge, June 11-12, 2011 contest at Lori Wilson or actually International Palms Resort to show support which starts at 9:00 Am I believe Sunday morning for day two.
Full size images below if you want to click on them and see full screen.
Dave throwing back a fan while surfing a waist to stomach high glassy day in South Cocoa Beach. May 14, 2011.
This was Saturday morning May 14, 2011 in South Cocoa Beach.
Sunny and his Dad, Dave the Ripper as Chad likes to call him :), along with Chad and Jim (Johnson Ave. group) caught a great surf sesh from a 3 or 4 day swell, nice and glassy for Saturday morn, yeah there were close-outs, but definitely some great waves in the waist to stomach high range.
Here is 6 or 7 pictures of Sunny Dave ripping up the best to be had that day. A couple of the photos below are 2 sequence shots. I hope you enjoy the gallery, and as we get more pics, we’ll get them up here for ya.
Surf report for Friday morning is a ridable wind swell at the right breaks 🙂
Okay, well, what we have is a wind swell (without a significant low pressure system to call it anything better than that), and as Ross at CFLSurf.com says, we’re gonna have 3 foot plus face
A nice backside wave, the 1st pic of a 2-shot sequence of Sunny Dave. May 14, 2011, Saturday morning.
waves, and the further south you go (to like Satellite Beach), the bigger and better form you’ll have.
The two days to tune in for are now Saturday and Sunday morning. Friday could bring in some waist high plus waves south with 8 to 10 mph east winds until around 9 or 10. The form could be fairly decent, and with low tide at 9:15 approx., if the 2nd punch of the swell gets here before 9, then it could be light 9 mph winds and waist high plus. By late morning, the winds will be increasing to the 12 to 20 mph range out of the east.
Saturday and Sunday morning it could be a little bigger with some stomach high plus sets, and close to calm winds with a chance of offshores for an hour or so from before daybreak on Saturday until 7 or 8. By Friday night I should know the Sunday morning winds within a reasonable accuracy. (50 to 80 % ha)
Second pic of a two-shot sequence. Dave making the guys half his age look tentative by comparison. Dave the Ripper 🙂
For Saturday it’s looking moderate 10 to 15 mph winds by afternoon. But it may be ridable and fun at the right tides. As of now (Friday 10:00 am) I have an update from Thursday, the models show NNE winds in the 4-6 mph Saturday morning, very good for the North wind breaks like the Cape, 4rth Street North. It shows 8 mph N winds from 7:30 to 9 Am Saturday, which means offshore winds for the Cape ranging from 3 to 7 degrees offshore depending on where you go at the Cape. 4rth street North is about 6 degrees offshore with North winds if your car is running ;(
Sunday morning, as the models stand right now (Friday 10 Am), shows 8-10 mph WNW winds at daybreak which if it doesn’t get blown flat overnight, could be an awesome waist high glassy session. The caution is, the winds are supposed to turn NNW at midnight Saturday and slowly turn NW in the 8 mph range, and winds like that blowing all night on a wind and not ground swell could go either way on flattening out the swell or not, we’ll see.
The models change every 6 hours, and keeping in mind that this is a wind swell and not really a low pressure system to speak of, we will have to update this tonight after 8 Pm when the models have change again.
Hey, we keep sounding like a broken record/8-track/cassette/cd/dvd/blue-ray, but we’re not supposed to have waves this time of year, and like last summer we weren’t supposed to have pre-hurricane waves all summer but we did. So enjoy what we get. For now, no jellyfish except an ocassional Cannonball or a Disc (white and flat, whatever they are).
The Pacific Coast is getting a Hurricane right nowAdrian, with 115 mph winds (the update is the hurricane strengthened to 135 mph but as it gets close to the San Diego parallel it starts to hit colddd water), it’s just under 400 miles west of Acapulco, so Acapulco, El Salvador and maybe Baja Mexico will be getting some great waves. Now the Cane is only heading west at 9 mph, so Escondido must be slamming. Acapulco rocks, deep and nice warm water. I surfed Acapulco in November a long time ago, warm water, unlike Baja Mexico such as Ensenanda, K-38, K-55 close to San Diego. There it was like 57 to 60 degrees in July – August, when Cliff and I surfed there a longggg time ago 😉
Later,
oldwaverider
Another nice sequence, Chad catching a nice reflection on the face, the one that Dave is going to deliver an aerial or close to it, on the 2nd shot. May 14, 20112nd shot...I hope Dave doesn't mind, but, Not Bad for an Older Guy 🙂 ...Sunny? What up?Another nice backside sequence of Dave, nice shots by Chad.Pic 2, Dave refusing to let the white throw him off the board till he can make good with the leftover face.
Full size images below if you want to click on them and see full screen.
Chad coming off a nice glassy lip in South Cocoa Beach. May 14, 2011, a nice Saturday morning session with his son Chase.
This was Saturday morning May 14, 2011 in South Cocoa Beach.
Chad with his son Chase, Sunny, Jim and Dave the Ripper caught a great surf sesh from a 3 or 4 day swell, nice and glassy, yeah there were closeouts, but definitely some great waves in the waist to stomach high range, with maybe some bigger sets.
Chase, (Chad’s son) came along to put on a show (see photos below 🙂 along with the surf sesh. Even if the waves were flat, it wouldn’t have been boring.
Also, the incoming wind swell for Memorial Day Weekend looks like it’s kicking in a tad more size and power. And it may even rollover till Thursday now, and………bring in some waves Sunday morning instead of waitin till the afternoon.
By Sunday afternoon, we should see some waist high waves at the Cape here, yeah 10 to 20 mph onshores, but like I said yesterday, we aren’t supposed to have waves by now, so get excited. Monday ought to have some fun chop, with a drop in the swell
Chad dropping in on a nice glassy right...Sun, glass and warm water...same wave as aboveA good day 🙂
by late afternoon/evening.
Then Tuesday, the size may kick in to maybe some chest high waves at the Cape with bigger sets down south, though the period (power) of the swell drops off until Wednesday some time where the size drops but the power kicks in a little
Chase thinking, not a care in the world...and spending a great day at the beach with the "Old Man :)"figure it out 🙂 ...ChaseChase agrees, it's a great Day!
more. Again, I don’t see an offshore winds window yet, but if we do, we’ll pass it on.
Full size images below if you want to click on them and see full screen.
Sunny on a nice stomach high left...
The photos are of Sunny taken by Chad , I think.
This was Saturday morning May 14, 2011 in South Cocoa Beach.
Chad, Sunny, Jim and Sunny Dave caught a great sesh from a 3 or 4 day swell, nice glassy, yeah some closeouts, but definitely some great waves.
A 3 shot sequence of Sunny, followed by a couple of miscellaneous waves.
By the way, Sunny does do rights also 🙂
Same nice left...3rd shot in a sequence of SunnyAnother nice left for SunnyNice lip to work
Oh, guess we don’t want to leave out the incoming Memorial Day weekend wind swell for Sunday thru maybe Wednesday.
Hey, we’re not even supposed to have waves this time of year, so get pumped that we’re at least getting some wind chop waves.
Maybe, we’ll see some shoulder high sets down south, but I figure we ought to see a day or two of waist high plus at the Cape since the wind swell is direct east.
Right now, I’m not seeing a window of off shore winds, but when we get to that 3 hour window, we’ll let ya know.
Enjoy the pics, and the waves late Sunday afternoon over Memorial Day weekend.
My apologies, I’ve been away from this puppy, but….my excuse is, no real swells until this Thursday. I heard today (5/8) had some waist high waves, glassy and lots of fun. I can only track the solid ground swells when I see them. If you watch the Video, be sure to click the 4 arrows just right of the HD to see full screen mode !
Ross at cflsurf.com does a great job for the daily reports and swell tracking, and I just get fanatical when there is a full blown swell (non-wind swell) headed our way, then I’ll do the updates as that approaches. That’s the best I can do for now.
Okay, we have a nice ground swell NE’r coming in that may give us 3 to 6 days of waves. As it stands, the swell starts to roll in some on Wednesday afternoon, with peak swell size Thursday night before dark. It should have some head high waves down southwith onshore winds in the 10 to 15 mph east range Thursday.
Friday morning, looks like we could have offshore winds (as the swell approaches this could move up or slow down) and chest to shoulder high down south, with a drop in size here at the Cape. Saturday, also looks to waist to chest high, offshore winds, and maybe some leftovers on Sunday. Wednesday afternoon, I’ll have a pretty clear picture of what the winds should be Friday morning, so we’ll give ya updates throughout the week 🙂
The video above just came out 2 days ago, and yeah, my fanatical obsession for Big Wave pictures and videos is always looking for the next swell to show. This one is the 2011 Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards, and youza, Shane Dorian set a new record for the largest wave ever paddled into. Shawn Dollar had the biggest last year at Mavericks for an estimated 55 foot face. Well, they didn’t say how big the face was for Shane Dorian this year at Jaw’s, but it’s somewhere over 55 foot face anyhow. He also got the best Monster Tube Ride award also on the same wave. Awesome waves. Danillo got the Best Ride of the Year with the most insane board flipping drop ever. Enjoy the video.
And don’t forget Sion Milosky died this year and his wife and children were there to take the award at the Billabong XXL Award night. We also lost Andy Irons as you all know. The Big Waves Award is a great night and great video to remember these awesome surfers and the many big waves they have surfed and the friendships they made during those epic days we all remember.
My friend from Lakeland High School John Staeger died from hitting a reef with his head while surfing Hawaii back in 1980, so we’ve all known someone that doesn’t get to paddle out again.
Thanks for your patience, since its been 9 days since I dropped an entry here. I’ll try not to wait so long 🙂
Raimana Van Bastolaer catches the wave of the day at Teahupoo, he caught the best barrell in 2010 for the XXL awards for the monster barrell contest.
Thursday morning (tommorrow) looks like it should be chest high down south. The swell strengthens for a day, not a big jump in size, but more in power, it just hit 4 feet at 10 seconds at the 120 buoy. The most significant thing, is the winds changed from a south southeast direction to total east, so it will bring in the swell more.
Winds ought to be in the 4 to 6 mph se maybe sse direction and stay light until lunchtime, where they should kick up an increase throughout the day.
The perfect mid-tide time with the low winds is 8 am, low is around 5 am, so getting out at 7 thru 10 should give the cleanest kick for the day.
The photo to the left is Raimana Van Bastolaer who is from Tahiti, one of the locals for Teahupoo, and hey what a surprise, he caught the biggest barrel best wave of the day. He also won the monster barrel Billabong XXL awards for 2010. Thanks to Magicseaweed.com for providing the awesome swell photo gallery of Teahupoo. See the rest here.
The Easter surf fest should have plenty of head high waves or at least plenty of 5 to 6 foot faces thru the weekend, so get it while you can. Like Ross at cflsurf.com says, it may be the last swell before the PHLAT season, unless we have a replay of last summer which was a freak and a gift from God. But we’ll see.
Teahupoo finally had a huge day after a year has passed. Magicseaweed.com has this awesome gallery of some locals, and some big wave names that caught this swell in the last few days. Mark Healey on this bomb.
An easterly swell east/southeast swell is starting to hit our beaches now. Looks like it hit the minimum to classify as a ground swell at the 120 buoy at 1 Am this morning. (Tuesday morning )
It hit 3.5 @ 11 secs. , I just looked at the surf at the end of Johnson, at 7 Am and in another hour and a half, the full first part of this 6 to 8 day swell should be here. It looked thigh high on the sets and even with the light onshores, the left shoulders were holding up a little. The waves don’t hit there size until Thursday and will continue to build a little each day from Thursday morning till at least Saturday or Sunday, maybe even Monday 🙂
Thursday morning should be the first big day of the swell, with light 5 to 7 mph SSE winds, with 3.5 to 4.0 feet at 10 seconds hitting the beach. Satellite Beach and Patrick at mid-tide should provide some solid chest high waves.
And, looks like we’ll have waves all thru the Easter Surf Fest/contest, with maybe some showers on Sunday, but not too much. As it stands right now, I don’t see a day where the winds will turn offshore yet, but as the swell moves in we’ll let ya know.
Anyhow, we’ll keep ya posted with the winds and as the second and third stages of the swell come in.
Sorry no pics here. Okay, I snagged one tonight, check out the awesome gallery that was just posted to Magicseaweed.com today here. In a hurry this morning.
Three friends from DC listening to the spectacular sounds of "Dub Kulcha", 4/8/11, at the Sandbar & Grille in Cocoa Beach during a week of spring break for many.
Friday night at Sandbar & Grille , Cocoa Beach was Jeff’s birthday, he turned ___? Ha, you’ll have to ask him. Chad, Jeff, John, Daniel? and Myself were celebrating Jeff’s birthday, but like a bonehead, I didn’t take his picture. (forgive the photo quality, they were taken with a phone 😦
I met up with a real nice friend from church at the Grille, the first time we had a chance to hang out. She was with a group of friends but they had to leave early. But I will have her out surfing by the end of the summer 🙂
The three to the left were enjoying some time in Cocoa Beach on vacation from DC, and taking in 100% of the band’s great sounds and vocals.
Anyhow, the spectacular Reggae band “Dub Kulcha” was playing, a gift we only get every couple months or so here, and they were incredible, see photos below. To check their schedule or stay updated check them out here.
Okay, Surf coming, we have a large mass of area in the Ocean kicking up a wind swell for us, in probably the 3 to 6 foot face size, which starts to arrive Monday night or afternoon.
It’s hard to even guess, when the winds may turn around for a brief offshore session. Right now the swell appears to peak in size on Thursday, and slight chance of going offshore Friday some time.Thursday could have some head high waves down south, at the Cape, yeah some smaller but easier to paddle out too 🙂
Dudley at the keyboards, with “Dub Kulcha”, sorry I dont know the others names. Friday night at the Sandbar & Grille, Cocoa Beach.
Dub Kulcha at the Sandbar & Grille, Cocoa Beach
The waters warm, about 76 degrees at the Cape, so paddle out anytime at high tide, and you’ll have the least bounce, easiest paddle out, and probably some fun semi-slop chop. You know that you always get a couple of great shoulders during a chop session.
Have a great weekend, and as the swell gets closer, we’ll give ya updates as to the size changes, wind directions and any other anal-retentive data that I think we may need.
Today, Friday, 8:30 to 10 Am, the waves were insanely fun just past 2nd light. Thigh to waist high, light offshore winds SW 3 mph, and the lefts especially were pitching hard enough to make you work to stay ahead. IT WAS SO CLOSE TO A LITTLE GROUND SWELL, THE LINES WERE FAIRLY LONG, I THINK I’LL CALL IT A GROUND/PEAK WINDSWELL!!
Very few closeouts or very few unmakeable waves. Breaking outside and all the way to the sand without bumping a rock , probably just a board length or two shy of football field long rides.
And………….. Only 2 of us out, NO WETSUITS!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeehawww!
Anyhow, Saturday and Sunday report, forecast , guess, ha, whatever, still looks good for the small incoming possible ground swell still. As I just looked, the 120 buoy will continue to build throughout today and tonight, so I believe we will have some waist high plus waves down south (maybe a stomach high set every now and then 🙂
The winds should be light offshore Saturday morn, in the 5 to 6 mph WSW range at daybreak, and rolling around to NNW by 11 ish. Sunday, the swell may be stronger but smaller, but WNW winds light, turning North by noon, at least for Satellite Beach.
It was so fun today, and the swell was only 4 feet at 9 seconds at midnight last nite at the 120, and showed 2 foot at 8 seconds at the 20 mile, but it had plenty of punch and long rides today.
Enjoy Saturday Am and get out there early. Low tide is around 6:30, so from 7:00 till 10 it should be getting better till the onshores get on it.
Billabong XXL Videos, you know I can’t live without em, so I had to place this one in, for the highlites of 2011. Thanks to magicseaweed.com for placing this one on Vimeo and their site, Enjoy!
Johnson Avenue Surfers 