thinking out loud

Only have use of the Nikon D700 for another day or two, so I was keen to squeeze in one last shooting session. Decided to duck down to Dee Why to see what I could find. I like the challenge of photographing some place I see all the time. As usual, if you look, there are endless possibilities…

[Show as slideshow]

Hello Friends,

Another day of substantial swell. Sydney peaked yesterday at close to 5 metres offshore (with sea + swell heights reaching an amazing 11 metres mid-afternoon). It’s dropped back today as expected but not by much. As of this morning it was still close to 4 metres at sea from the S by SSE. Average period is still trucking along at a useful 10 sec. The low that’s creating all this energy is moving pretty slowly, so it should stay about the same size all day. Then overnight it is set to begin a gradual decline from around the 4m mark to around 3 for Monday.

Wind is currently 15-35kts from the SSW in the Sydney region. The Bureau says it should ease back toward evening.

The light was very poor for picture taking from early thanks to the lowering skies, but I did get out for a scan of the Dee Why to Northy zone. Essentially there are only two places being surfed. Dee Why point which is getting mauled by very substantial bomb sets (2-3x overhead on the biggest I saw) and Collaroy which is sedate and shoulder high on the biggest ones. If you’re thinking the Kick, so are lots of other folks. Looks like long waits for slow moving lumps into the head high range at best. Brownwater is hosting the usual crew of mad bodyboarders, but I have to confess that I didn’t get a really close look at it. My guesstimate is shoulder to head high plus. No one in at Centuries/white rock that I could see. South Narra, fergedaboudit. Norffy? Yeah, right.

I’m on soccer Dad duties for most of the morning, so I’ll make an effort to check in around midday with an update of some sort.

Go well, and don’t do anything stupid, eh?

Hello Friends,

Just back from another airport run, this time to retrieve my mate Guy who just got in on the big bus from LAX. Looped through Manly, Curly and Dee Why on the way home - and for good measure had a quick squizz at far north Collaroy…

Here’s da scoop:

Little and crowded at the Bower. Maybe waist to chest high with occasional bigger sets. Like yesterday it looked better for mals and fishes than anything else. Glassy though. And glassy too at around 0900 when we went along the beach front at Manly. Like yesterday, it was relatively clean, pretty crowded and shoulder to head high on a lot of them. Plenty of shutdowns in the mix, but patience would be rewarded I’d say (see my latest vid for an idea of how it was playing out there yesterday arvo). It got bigger and messier the closer you got to Queenscliff.

Around at Curly, the situation was again uninspiring. Lots of activity, but really lumpy and messy. Not too many in.

Dee Why, as Rob’s already noted, has its share of energy, but it’s also lumpier and messier than Manly was.

Collaroy to Northy stretch was showing some potential for bodyboarding and bodysurfing at the southern end. Northy… probably not the go given the swell direction and forecast.

Forecast, did I say forecast? More of the same apparently. Wind is set to be 20-30 kts from the south around to the SW. It’s light as I write this, but that won’t last. Swell is SSE and 2 metres on average at around 9 seconds apart. However, there is some 11 sec component as well, so there should still be a few sizable sets at exposed locations.

If anything, the swell should build a little through the day and by this evening we should have some 3 metre stuff out at sea (sea + swell will be up into the 5-6 metre range apparently).

Tomorrow we have a repeat of the wind speeds, but the call is for it to be S-SE, so quality will take a hit most places. Swell should still be cooking along at around the 3 metre mark though and coming from the S-SE (which one hopes will mean it gets into the protected corners a bit).

Not sure if the schedule will permit, but I’ll try to stick to my 7-day forecast every other day routine and post something in the way of a podcast or vidcast after close of play this evening.

Get out there if you can, and have a top old day!