At 6.20 a.m:
Constantine (1*): 4 to 5 feet.
It’s a bit of a chilly one out there this morning, a fresh north westerly wind whipping cold air into the bay while the sky attempts to shake away a patchwork of cloud.
The surf is a rolling mess of four to five feet of broken and battered waves, a thick windswell battered by a brisk wind.
The swell size will gradually ease as the wind strength does and the weather will likely stay reasonably okay for most of the day too. But overall it is promising to be bit of a lacklustre kind of high Summer day.
Harlyn (2*): 3 to 4 feet.
Three feet and bigger of windblown and chopped surf is crunching onto the sand at just about half-tide, the wind gusting in from the north west, all cold and biting and surf destroying.
Harlyn can be fun in a fresh onshore wind, those often beach-wide close-outs pushed into something more peaky and fractionally slower breaking. And that allows the more agile to flex their muscles and take to the air!
So you can expect a bit of an airshow from all the young guns through high tide today, those thick and lumpy Harlyn shutdown waves providing some greta ramps to aim for the clouds!
Today’s Tide Times:
Low Tide: 15:48 (1.7m) High Tide: 09:32 (6.6m)
Surf Forecast for Tuesday 9th August 2016
The wind is likely to continue to ease in strength, still breezing in from the north west, still with that chill in the air but with a brighter and sunnier day hopefully to balance that wind chill effect.
The surf is unlikely to be any better than two to three feet and just about okay. A sloppy and weaker swell washing in without any real conviction.
Still, the water is warm and there will be some surf and that will do at this time of year!
Surf Conditions for the Start of the Week
Northerly winds are likely to plague us again as a thick and solid summer swell rolls our way to start the week. And those winds, although easing in strength, are likely to stay with us for most, if not all of the week.
But the weather should be just about okay for most of the time and the surf should be fun for most of the time as well, only gradually weakening off as the week rolls by.
These summer weeks are the ones when you hone your fitness levels and sharpen your reflexes by riding those unpredictable, windblown swells that are often twitchy and uncertain with bowling and intense little sections at the same time!
It is definitely worth having an appropriate extra board or two for these summer conditions!
Have a great week, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!
SJ’s Surf Forecast for the SW
Forecast last updated at 09:00 Monday 8th August 2016
Hi everyone – these updates are currently made at any time of the day as and when I get the time/chance to update – however from September the intention would be for it to be updated every weekday morning by 10am.
[Don’t forget to look at this forecast the day before you go beach for the latest, as things can often change!]
The Rest Of The Week:
‘A return to more ‘Summery’ conditions as the swell gets smaller.’
Sunrise and sunset – 06:05 and 20:45
Twilight starts and ends – 05:30 and 21:20
Midday – 13:25
Length of day – 14:40
Offshore Sea Temp approx – 17C / 62.5F
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Monday 8th:
‘South coast will have a small but clean wave. The North will still be big (decreasing in size throughout the day) but will be onshore.’
Swell – (i) Strong W
Wind – Medium going Light-Medium NW
Weather – Fresher day with mixture of cloud and sunshine. Dry.
North Coast – 6-8ft (Overhead) going 4-6ft (Chest-Headhigh)
South Coast – 3-4ft (Waist-Chesthigh) going 2-3ft (Knee-Waisthigh)
Tides – 09:18 High, 15:34 Low
Tuesday 9th:
‘The swell drops right off today. Onshore on the North, and for the south you best get out for a dawnie before the hightide for a longboardable wave at the main spots.’
Swell – (i) OK W-WNW
Wind – Light-Medium going Medium N-NW
Weather – Cooler Northerly wind to start the day with, but soon warming up with a mixture of cloud and sunshine. Dry.
North Coast – 4ft (Chesthigh) going 3ft (Waisthigh)
South Coast – 1-2ft (Kneehigh) going 1ft
Tides – 09:53 High, 16:09 Low
Wednesday 10th:
‘Onshore windslop for the North, and near enough flat for the south.’
Swell – (i) OK going Weak W-WNW
Wind – Medium NW
Weather – Mixture of cloud and sunshine. Chance of some light rain.
North Coast – 1-3ft (Knee-Waisthigh)
South Coast – 1ft
Tides – 10:35 High, 16:52 Low
Thursday 11th:
‘Small onshore slop for the North; flat for the south.’
Swell – (i) Weak W-WNW
Wind – Medium NW going WNW
Weather – Mixture of cloud and sunshine. Dry.
North Coast – 1-2ft
South Coast – 0-1ft
Tides – 11:26 High, 17:50 Low
Friday 12th:
‘Same as Thursday – small onshore slop for the North; flat for the south.’
Swell – (i) Weak WNW
Wind – Light-Medium W
Weather – Mixture of cloud and sunshine. Dry.
North Coast – 1-2ft
South Coast – 0-1ft
Tides – 06:30 Low, 12:37 High, 19:13 Low
Weekend Summary:
‘Too early to tell accurately yet. There is a wide divergence between the various sources/model runs for Friday onwards – some showing a good swell, and others showing light winds. So will hold of updating the weekend section until Tuesday.’
Saturday 13th:
‘Highly changeable at the moment. Small wave with light onshores.’
Swell – (i) OK WNW going W-WNW
Wind – Light-Medium W going Light NW
Weather – Mixture of cloud and sunshine. Dry.
North Coast – 3ft (Waisthigh)
South Coast – 1ft
Tides – 07:56 Low, 14:01 High, 20:34 Low
Sunday 14th:
‘Highly changeable at the moment. Wind could go light leaving a small but clean wave – best on a longboard to catch those small peelers!’
Swell – (i) Weak W
Wind – Light Variable
Weather – Mixture of cloud and sunshine. Dry.
North Coast – 1-3ft (Knee-Waisthigh) going 1-2ft (Kneehigh)
South Coast – x
Tides – 09:08 Low, 15:10 High
Early Next Week:
‘Way too early to tell yet!’
The scale for measuring conditions:
0-1ft – Unridable/Flat
1-2ft – Kneehigh
3ft – Waisthigh
4-5ft – Chest/Shoulderhigh
6ft – Headhigh
6-8ft = 1-1.5x Overhead
8-10ft = 1.5x Overhead
10-12ft = 2x Overhead
Please Note!
Wave height predictions are based on the larger breaks on both coasts such as Fistral and Croyde for the North, and Praa Sands and Bantham for the South.
Wave height is measured from the front of the wave, and 6ft would usually mean a ‘head-high’ wave.
Try and use some ‘local’ knowledge about what the wave sizes will be elsewhere. For example the Newquay Bay area is generally 1/3 to 3/4 the size of Fistral, increasing the further up the bay you go from Towan to Lusty Glaze, and that it will be clean on a W wind at ‘harbour left’ at Towan at mid-tide’ for example.
Tide times are based on Newquay.
Stay Stoked!
SJ