All last week I was looking forward to this ground swell to arrive, and it has, or at least the Swellinfo, MSW, and Surfline, say it has.... But this is what I'm seeing.... Not just this spot too, checked a few and 1-2' max. Any help as to why such an overcall? Thanks!
Kyle, most web forecasters don't account for specific swell directions for each break all that well... it's a lot of data to crunch. Pay attention to swell direction and find the beaches that are best depending on that factor.
Erock, I understand that, that's why I said I checked multiple spots.... And like I said most flat or 1-2' max...and I checked the pier 3 times today, and if there is any swell at all, one side of the pier will kick up....but that's the 1-2' max spot. I totally understand computer forcasting is a tough job, but just haven't seen anything like this before...3ft@13secs usually produces something rideable....
Ok, wind direction? It's Florida, it's onshore 90% of the time, no different today, in fact less wind than usual....not sure if wind direction is the root of the problem here... I know Florida has a slowly sloping shelf, does this take all the thunder out of this ground swell?
I feel your pain. The forecast for Jupiter has been terrible. I made a post to vent a little frustration. Theres been a few morning (ei 3 days ago) that i get up at 545 in the morning to find a lake. I caught a good little windswell session last sunday around marker 38. Those sandbars seem really shallow and far out there right now, ive been having to get it at high tide or it kills it. There seems to be a few gardens kids that are claiming that as their spot. I had some crackhead try to tell me that if im not from gardens then i cant surf there. Didnt end up too well for him, no one tells me i cant surf in my own town. So that has really been the only break that seems to be reliable right now. But yea im with you on the bad forecasts as of late idk wtf is going on. Most of the best surfs ive had recently have been at coral cove. The rocks there are poking out again making for an interesting walk out and the sharks have been all over that place, but its always bigger there. I used to make the claim that the spot was a secret but its been packed out there recently.
Yup dont come here stay where ever you are. I mean beautiful women everywhere, great weather, great golf, the bahamas is a 2 1/2 hr boat ride from my house, the fishing in awesome, yea this place sucks
Generally yeah...long period swell gets more frictional drag coming across the shelf than shorter period wind swell. But the part of Florida your talking about....Broward, Palm Beach, Martin..etc. I thought had some of the smallest continental shelf in the east coast. Maybe ENE swell direction gets shadowed by Grand Bahama bank a bit? That bank extends pretty far north.
The swell up here in SC has been mostly short period wind swell, but there are waves out. Nothing to write home about, but yesterday was waist to chest with about chest high in the forecast for the next two days.... And as far as the forecasting goes here, most of the fun swells in SC are always tagged with red wind conditions, but most days its about 1/3 to 1/2 of the actual wind speed. I never let the red color days get me down too much. The wind is NEVER 25-30mph here when its on shore unless it right as the storm is hitting. Every day i surf here that has a red color label at least turns out to be blue conditions... Its fickle, but you are correct in that 3 feet at 13 seconds should produce some chest + consistent surf... and if the buoy are near your spot, you should be good to go.... But with all that being said, there have been plenty of days where that 1-3feet prediction has amounted to lake atlantic... thats life... And if the tides kill Florida like they do in SC, good luck. You have to base you life around high tide with about an hour on each side of it before it dies... Like clock work... You get about 40 minutes of hollow, barrel potentialed surf before it all dissapears until the ridiculous tide wing comes back up....
Sandy was a painful reminder to me of the SC variables that come in to play.... It was solid 6-7 feet at high tide with offshores, and by the time i left the water at low tide I couldnt buy a wave... I road in literally on an ankle high set wave.... 5 hours later, it was cranking again....
Cape Canaveral buoy is 3.6 @ 14 seconds. There is some swell there, but it looks like its not getting quite down to your area. Should get bigger as you head north.
