I was noticing that this week's forecast changes from wind swell (<10 seconds) to medium period swell (10-11 seconds) to ground swell (>12 seconds) by the weekend. Is 12-14 seconds about as long a period swell as we can hope for on the east coast? What's the longest period swell anyone remembers on the east coast? What's the best place on the planet for consistent long-period swell - or is it impossible to say?
16-17 second periods is fairly common in the mid atlantic, mostly from hurricanes or large winter storms that get a few hundred miles out and throw back big swell. Hurricane Bill last year gave us all ridable (at most spots) swell with 15-19 second periods for three days...i can remember a couple swells that were 20 second intervals on the buoy off Delaware, but not big sized, hurricanes way WAY out in the atlantic. Cant remember if they produced anything ridable or not.
hurricane bill summer of 2009 was definitely around the 18sec mark. I think hurricane Danielle, and igor were too (summer 2010)
yes, daniel and igor were really long period, like 16-17. On my last costa rica trip we got a south that was 18-22 seconds. HEAVY waves.
My best memory of long period swells is everyday. The best place for the longest period is every coast line that is affected by the tides. The lunar tides provide two swells a day at 43, 200 seconds or 12 hours. Hope this helps you plan your next surf trip, Thanks for the clarification Mitchell.
point breaks are generally best for long period swell, as the swell will bend around a headland to create long lines.... Many beach breaks tend to close out on long period swells. East Coast, anything around 10-12 seconds is generally optimal, and then when you get longer then that, many places will deal with close outs. The angle of the swell plays a big part as well, as the more direct of an angle the higher the tendency for close outs.
Anything over 10 seconds does funny things for Northern Monmouth. Generally, 9-10 seconds works best. I distinctly recall one epic winter swell where the numbers were 10 feet at 10 seconds, and it was absolutely firing... bordering on scary.
I believe period is measured from crest to crest (or trough to trough)..so wouldnt that make the "period" of a tide 12 hours, not 6?
