THE Surf Report- Late Edition

Fantabulous.

SURF:

What can we say about Marie that hasn't been said already? Overhead surf here and 30' sets at the Wedge. Enough said. Marie maxed out last Sunday as a Category 5 beast with sustained winds of 160mph and was due SE of us at 160 degrees- just barely in northern OC's swell window.

As she started to die early in the week, she also turned more to the SSW, so north county SD saw good surf yesterday as the OC started to become more manageable. Marie has now dissipated roughly 500 miles SW of San Diego, but we'll still have leftover head high+ waves from her in SD and OC today. Saturday drops further with chest high waves.

As luck would have it, we had a small storm in the southern hemisphere last week too and that will deliver chest high SW swell on Sunday/Monday along with a waist high NW windswell. Water temps have rebounded nicely and are in the mid-70's around town.

Tides the next few days are 1' at sunrise, up to 5' mid-day, down to 1' at 6pm, and up slightly to 2' at sunset. Make sure to keep up to date on the waves/weather at Twitter/North County Surf.

FORECAST:
The SW/NW combo lasts into Monday for more chest high+ waves around town and then things slow down mid-week.

We have another storm on the charts today from the southern hemisphere that actually looks pretty good if it holds together. I'm hoping for head high+ SW next Thursday the 4th and that should last into the weekend. Basically the tropics are taking a breather and the southern hemisphere is stepping up to the plate. Make sure to check the blog below on Tuesday for the progress of the swells on the Surf Check!

WEATHER:

Great weather this week as high pressure has been in control. Looks like we have one more day today of clear skies and warm temperatures before the low clouds/fog return in the nights and mornings on Saturday. Low pressure is moving down the coast and we'll have cooler than normal temps next week. Nothing major but it will take a little longer for the sun to come out in the mornings and temps will be hovering around the high 60's/low 70's next week.

BEST BET:
Today with leftover Marie swell or Sunday/Monday with the small combo swell or next Thursday with the better SW swell. Basically every other day...

NEWS OF THE WEEK:

I talked about this a few years ago and I thought it was a good time to discuss it again now that hurricane Marie has rolled through. Swell angle. There. I said it. Cat's out of the bag. Why does it make a difference to beaches up and down the coast? Basically you can think of a swell like a rubber band. If you took a rubber band and put it a couple inches from the corner of a table, then stretched it around the corner, you'd notice the rubber band getting thinner. A swell moving up the coast will do the same thing- lose energy as it bends away to fit the coast. If a swell hits a beach straight on, you'll see the biggest surf. If it has to bend along the coast, it will lose energy. In the case of hurricane Marie, the peak of the swell was coming from a swell angle of around 160-180 degrees. Newport Beach is about 200 degrees- pretty close to the 180 swell angle.

So Newport felt the brunt of the swell. A place like Encinitas on the other hand faces about 260 degrees, so the 180 swell has to wrap all the way to 260 and loses energy. So while Newport had 15' sets, we were 1/2 that size down here. Same goes for the winter time- SD will pick up NW swells as a spot like Ocean Beach faces NW while here in north county SD will be smaller as we face SW.

PIC OF THE WEEK:

Just got a pair of Google Glass. Fell asleep on the couch last night and forgot to take them off. Inadvertently recorded this nightmare of mine. Going to take them back to Best Buy this weekend.

Keep Surfing,

Michael W. Glenn
Spectacular
National Team Captain
Was Given An Honorary World Title by the ASP