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.
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.
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!
My addiction of big wave footage continues…Another XXL contender video, of Shane Dorian, a very familiar participant in the Billabong XXL awards of recent years. This was a massive perhaps 45 to 50 foot paddle in wave at Peahi on 3/15/11. He almost made it out of the barrell 🙂
SURF REPORT TIME: Okay, now to local matters; It looks like we have a wind swell coming in starting sometime Sunday evening, with the most size on Monday (overhead chop) , but strong onshore winds. Tuesday morning looks to be head high and glassy (as the wind forecasts stand right now) for a session down south (2nd light, Perkins, RC’s, etc.) and waist high plus at the Cape. The winds could go offshore until late morning Tuesday, and as the size drops some overnight a foot or two, Wednesday appears to be a day with offshore winds thru lunchtime.
As Monday approaches, we will track the 48 hour window of the weather channel to give more updates on the potential offshore winds.
It doesn’t look to be a ground swell, but it may very well be some decent size and power.
A convenient Brevard County swell, 3-5-10, taken by Gulfster.com photographer.
Our nice fat swell continues with it’s ping pong game. More after this note below about the photo on the left.
The photo to the left is just to set the tone for our Sunday, Monday swell 🙂 It’s a pic taken by Gulfster.com, and it happens to be 3/5/10 when the pic was taken. They come over from Anna Maria Island on the Gulf to Brevard very often when we have a large swell, and they load up with photos of their own people, and some Brevard people. To see some other great Brevard swell photos and to see the other great stuff at their website, check here to see their 2010 batch of photo days.
On this side of the net, it’s back to Monday being the main offshore day, with the swell reading at 4 feet at 9 seconds. With the size fetch of this swell and the large sections of 9 to 10 second swell period in the ocean, I think we’ll see some head high waves down south, and chest high at the Cape. I don’t think the winds overnight will blow it down much in size. At daybreak, I’m guessing the winds will be 10 to 15 mph out of the WNW and will back down to less than 10 by noon. It should be close to epic, if the storm stays on track.
Sunday, now looks like potential offshore in the late afternoon, out of the SSW around 15 to 20 and backing down a little before dark. You need to surf a south wind break, meaning anywhere south of say 6th street south, ideally one of the breaks in Satellite Beach where some areas are close offshore winds even directly out of the south. Sunday should be overhead, so by late afternoon, if it does go offshore, it could be 1 to 2 feet overhead in Satellite and shoulder high to possibly head high at the Cape.
Saturday night I’ll have the most accurate wind directions, when I only have to look at 48 hours. The local weather forecasts for every 15 minutes over 48 hours get it pretty accurate. We’ll keep you updated then.
Had to toss in this killer 2009 video of Ian Walsh and his brother surfing jaws on Christmas Day, 2009. Click on the first link of the names of Ian and Luke. They launch their jet ski in the dark which takes a few minutes to see the actual surfing.
Skipping down the face. From the harbour Saint Jean de Luz, the Naturgas team motored out to Belharra surf break, at the bottom SW point of France, near the Spain Basque region. Compliments of magicseaweed.com
Quick update for Friday morning. Those of you willing to do dawn patrol, I believe we will have offshore winds, SW winds light, until 9:30 Am the very latest. Probably, only till 8:30 Am.
Size should be waist to chest at the Cape, and head high down south. There is a chance of a few over head waves down South. Probably more overhead sets than on Saturday.
Saturday, looks like NW winds till mid-morning at best, but also chest to head high, with possibly a few overhead waves.
oldwaverider
More from the new XXL entrant, Belharra break in SW France.
Our incoming swell should bring us some waist to possible chest high waves at the Cape today, with chest to overhead sets coming in down South, at Patrick and Satellite Beach. It does look like the swell may not hit the size as the models showed 2 days ago.
I looked at the pier this morning, at dead high tide and it was waist high, with about 5 short-boarders out and 1 long-boarder. Not a strong swell but hopefully as the swell rolls in thru noon, it may strengthen. It looked fun though.
The winds will be ramping up today from 10 to 15 mph out of the ESE, but……..Friday morning at daybreak it looks like they will drop to 2 to 4 mph SE so there should be some really fun lines coming in, waist high plus at the Cape and chest high plus down South.
Saturday morning still looks like we will have offshore winds, it looks like 5 to 8 mph NW winds at daybreak, and waist here, and chest high down South. The water should jump up to 65 by Saturday, so toss the suits, and skin it while soaking in the sun at 78 degrees !
France Basque country gets huge XXL swell. See the great photos at magicseaweed.com
This video is from a swell that just hit France, a cove/bay called Saint Jean Luis, as you can see it’s at the far SW tip of France as it hits Spain. See the awesome still shots here.
This has got to be the best close up video footage I have seen of big wave surfing. The backs of these waves look like 20 foot, and the fronts look to be 20 to 30 foot plus overhead. A couple of the guys, just left that huge swell at Ireland, which was also a Billabong XXL big wave entrant. The footage is only a minute, but the waves looks so clean, perfect and makeable (and huge), that they almost look ridable for the average Joe.
Enjoy the swell we have, the warm sun and the kind of waves that Europe is getting right now. Later
Johnson Avenue Surfers 