Here is what the Gulf Coast surfers for Anna Maria Island had to look at this morning, unlike the photos that 16streets.com had to show, and the water temp at the gulf is 91 degrees, vs our 85 degrees, so we can count our blessings, compliments of gulfster.com
We do have a narrow little swell out there as you have noticed from a walk to our beaches, (the photo to the left is what the Gulf Coast of Florida, Anna Maria Island had) my guilt abounds for not mentioning this slight incoming swell on Wednesday night. It is really small and narrow in width but it is showing in the 3 to 3.5 foot range at 8 to 10 seconds at the 120 mile buoy.
The winds should be offshore Friday morning for a couple hours, before daybreak and until mid-morning, unless the scattered thundershowers take control of the situation differently. (as mentioned by Ross and myself, the winds are often sketchy to predict, however, weather.com has been over 60 to 70 % accurate for me when used 36 hours before or less).
We could very well have some glassy thigh high plus waves Friday morning for awhile. I don’t believe the offshore winds starting light after midnight will blow it flat, but……………that is always a possibility.
Getting out at daybreak will get you out at almost optimum tide at just slightly past mid-tide high going low.
We also have a weak windswell approaching , beginning a little on Saturday and dribbling in on thru what appears to be Wednesday as the models show right now. Don’t expect much, and then if it’s rideable at some point, hey you’ll be happy.
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.
Our swell chart at 7 Am this Friday morning, compliments of magicseaweed.com
It was great this morning ! The Cape was totally blocked out by this part of the swell.In Satellite it was shoulder high on the drop w chest high shoulders and glassy until around 7:30 Am! Then it dropped off to waist high for an hour and then kicked back up to waist to chest. Still glassy when I left about 8:30 Am.
The next punch of the swell will kick in some throughout the day today (Friday) , in fact it just hit 6 feet at the 120 buoy at 9 Am this morning at 11 seconds which travels about 18 to 19 mph which would take 7 hours approx. to actually hit the beach. Last night at 9 Pm it was 4 feet at 10 seconds. So by 4:00 Pm today, the new surge will hit. The final punch of the swell coming in will be between 10 Pm and 1 Am tonight. It should hit between 7 and 8 feet at the 120 buoy.
I believe in Satellite Beach it will have some 1 foot overhead drops at least with shoulder high maybe head high shoulders down the line. The winds will be SW around 8 mph and by 11 or so turn WSW on into the afternoon. The period will have it’s main punch from dinnertime tonight throughout Saturday morning. It will have way more punch than it did this morning.
Saturday 1 Am morning swell chart size, looks to be around 7 to 8 feet at the 120 mile buoy. Magicseaweed.com
Sunday, it should be waist high plus down there, strong strong offshore winds, and then dropping throughout the day Sunday.
The moving swell chart pics here (frozen at 7 Am for this morning and the 2nd one frozen at 1 Am tonight), show how the swell will still be coming in until around 1 or 2 Am.
I believe the size will be as I said, the winds will be blowing offshore at 8 to 10 mph for 4 or 5 hours but I don’t think it will drop the size any yet since the swell period is still coming in.
Friday's 7 Am swell period chart. Compliments of magicseaweed.com
This is one powerful swell!
It’s going to be building too, all day Friday and even throughout Friday night until just before daybreak Saturday. But that’s not why I’m saying it’s powerful.
The period of the swell is pushing between 11 and 14 seconds between the beach and the 120. Then you might say, oh crap, an 11 or 12 second period swell for us is all closeouts. Well you’d be wrong! Just kidding with the intensity. But you would be wrong 🙂 The quality of the low pressure system is what makes or breaks the swell, and it does help if you surf one of our reef breaks that can hold it better when it gets hollow.
This swell has a fairly uniform set of period bands in it. Not anything as good as the Nov. 14th, 2010 swell (see the 2 links below) with perfect waves, but……….when I looked at the rock breaks in Satellite Beach today, even with the onshore winds in the 10 to 15 mph range, there was some sweet shoulders holding up, so imagine a South wind break with a quality swell. After looking at the Satellite Rock break, then I looked at 2nd light and O’club, and then a block south of 16th street, and the beach breaks were not holding up well, were at least a foot or two smaller.
Saturday morning 7 Am swell period chart for May 14, 2011. Compliments of magicseaweed.com
Alright, I’m long-winded 😉 Friday morning rock breaks south of 2nd light should be solid head high waves, with 5 to 7 mph South winds, but I believe we could see a little SSW or with a gift from above possibly SW until 8 Am or so. These waves have lots of power, and are very hollow.
Saturday morning, I see the swell being a foot bigger at the daybreak, very possibly a foot overhead on the huge sets, with SW winds at daybreak, hollow, plenty of makeable waves and some sweet barrells. If you have a camera, bring it. The drift will probably be gone by Saturday too. The tides are perfect. Friday high tide is around 4:15 Am, and as you know high going low is best for us. So get out by 6:30 or 7 at the latest Friday to catch the slight offshore wind window.
Saturday, High is at 5:20 so anytime after 7:30 should rock! Unless the storm suddenly moves, Saturday should be epic. For 3 or 4 days straight, the models have been showing SW winds for Saturday, so I would bet $ 20 that it will be SW till at least 10, and probably pushing till past 12. Strange thing is, I don’t think it will hit 8 feet at the 120 buoy, I believe more like 7 feet Friday night, and yet we could have 7 foot face waves Saturday morning before the swell starts dropping a little in the afternoon Saturday.
Take a look at the swell period chart (the first image) for 7 Am Friday morning, and notice the fairly uniform period bands, instead of little dots of color all over the place, it is one solid blue with the mega period coming in late Friday nite for Saturday morning. The next pic is Saturday morning which is getting to 75 % of perfect storm. (Nov. 14th was thee perfect storm) The last picture was from today with plenty of power but the wrong winds, and the swell was still coming in even though the period was high.
Thursday morning (today's) swell period chart at 7 Am. Compliments of magicseaweed.com
Today, it was thigh high at the end of Johnson with onshore winds but some fun drops, some shoulders and a little power. I saw Scooter get an awesome and long left, and his wife got are really long, to the beach right.
Saturday morning is almost a perfect storm but not quite. Not like Nov. 14th, 2010. Go back and take a look at the pictures from Satellite Beach on that day, and look at the swell period chart I placed there I think the day before. It was a bigger swell, but they are similar in their perfection.
Okay, have a great Friday sesh, and have really mega-sesh on Saturday, God willing he keeps the conditions on target.
The time table moved up, and it looks like Thursday may be light offshore in the 5 to 8 range out of the west mostly for a few hours in the morning. Right now, I’ll go with 30 % accurate on those winds (for this Monday night) and Tuesday night, when I’ll be closer to okay let’s say 90 % call for Thursday Am wind accuracy 😉 Swell power should be strong enough to be chest high plus down south, waist at the Cape. Later in the day the size ought to kick up a little.
Friday, it gets a little bigger but with onshore winds all day. The swell actually kicks in a second punch and starts pulling in some more size.
Saturday, could easily be head high on the larger sets, with SW winds in the 8 to 12 mph range. It could be totally epic. Pick your favorite break.
Keep in mind that this swell comes from a sharp NE angle, so the further south you go, it ought to be bigger, cleaner and pitching nicer 🙂
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 🙂
Thursday morning (4/28) the waves were a lot of fun, moderate south winds (10 to 12 mph) at our break a 1/2 mile south of 2nd light. Shoulder high and occasionally larger drops, with chest high shoulders, rights and lefts working, but most were only about 50 yard rides on a long board. Plenty of chances to get pitched 🙂 But they had some great punch to them with some great fast walls to work until they closed out. 3 of us out, around 7:30 till 10, All to our selves. Great session.
Friday morning at Hightowers, it was thigh high perfect glass in texture but close-outs after 50 yards or so. 20 minutes after I got out, the storm from east and north hit and totally blew out the waves, oh well 😉
We have additional wind swell coming in Saturday thru Monday am in the chest to shoulder high range down south and a little smaller at the Cape, and it appears to hang around a day or two after that. Don’t expect any glass for the next 5 days, but there should be plenty of waves to paddle into anyhow. Hey, we usually start the flat season now so get excited that we have waves.
When we see a window of offshore winds we’ll let ya know.
Sorry, no pics for now 😦
Oh, and sorry, the Shuttle Launch got scrubbed and is now on tentative for Sunday 5/1 some time.
Monday night at Hangers, chest to shoulder high with head high drops, paddled out at 5:15, caught one shoulder to head high drop, (about 150 yard paddle out), and that puppy took me all the way to the beach and I came in. Which all sessions were like that. I went home after that. Yeah, it was 15 plus mph se winds but the shoulders were holding up for lefts and rights. Great sesh.
Thursday morning ought to be waist to chest high down south, looks like the winds changed to south (originally weather.com showed ssw for the first 3 hours of daybreak) at 10 to 14 mph until 10ish. The breaks from O’ Club south have 6 degrees or more offshore winds when out of the south.
If you go down to Spanish House or Sebastian, the angle of direct south winds provides 26 degree offshore, and Playalinda would be 32 degrees offshore with south winds but, oops…………….Playalinda closed with the hopeful shuttle launch.
Okay, the swell may drop a little but not much for Friday morning, and the winds should be WNW at daybreak, and turning NNW until 10 am, and then by 11 am or later it turns North and then NE.
Get out by 7:30 or 8 on Thursday right at mid-tide, with high (5 am) going low, which is best for us.
Friday Am, get out by 8 also, otherwise you lose the offshore glass.
Johnson Avenue Surfers 