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Reivers Dustin
07/03/11 #10936
Last week Bussinger, Duncan, Rybzyc and myself caught best conditions for the day at tide change at extreme low water level. It was end of ebb and it seemed to keep ebbing a little longer than the predicted current.
The waves turned into that 'magic carpet ride' experience: wide fast movers even though the winds were very light.
Today we've got wind (Locust Beach wind monitor shows 20 - 30). Tide change is at 1:00. In this case the water level is higher. We won't see the extreme low. Maybe the big air will skew the observation.
Looking for the patterns here. Any help appreciated. Post up your research guys.
rd
Reivers Dustin
07/03/11 #10937
Sounds like Pete Wells was out earlier. Eric Ger. was coming off the water when LG and I showed. Mike Hammer was out before we got our boats in. Lance R. was going just as we went. Dean B. and MG caught us up after LG & I did our first rather big loop.
LG & I were in at about 1:10. We pushed down to the tunnel, then went out about even with the Post Point Bouy. It was good, but not “special” considering the wind. Water level was lower than I expected. When we got near the Post Point Bouy it got really good. Eric said it was fantastic when he went through there. My hunch is that it got smaller. The best stuff was from the buoy on in to Squalicum Harbor. Not tall waves, but fast wide-spaced ones. Dean and MG went all the way in, LG & I turned at the outfall buoy.
After going around Eliza yesterday I was pooped. Now I'm crawling around the house wimpering.
Any way we can get together and figure out when the waves were the biggest today?
rd
allipp01
07/04/11 #10938
Pete and I did Wildcat to a little past Marine Park from around 10:00 to 11:00 AM.
In that time period, there was a tide drop of 1 foot according to the tide chart.
Observations:
Wildcat to Governors; sticky, felt like molasses at times, and hard to catch.
Governors to before Post Point; good,easy to catch with long, paddle in the lap rides, two or three strokes to connect the next bumps, then paddle in the lap again. I had one ride of at least 30 seconds with nary a stroke taken.
Post Point area; got way smaller and really had to work to catch them, 5 or 6 hard strokes required to catch a bump.
Outside Marine Park to a little past the drydock got bigger again, but still needed 3 or 4 hard strokes to connect.
Conclusion; with a strong tidal change bathymetric variables play a large part of the equation.
Eric Grossman
07/04/11 #10939
G'Day,
here is a small data point for you. Small 6-12 inchers between 6 and 7pm despite 15-20 mph winds…I would have preferred larger mid-day waves, but had to check out the Bellingham Criterium. The tiny evening waves were catchable tho. The best ones were between the Post Point buoy and MP and could be ridden at a steep angle to reach across them from the buoy to the beach. I agree bathymetry has a lot to do with setting up these waves as well as current velocities and directions, including the effects of eddys. Last night's flood tide was like an iron on a shirt, but a couple edges of eddys seemed to have more texture.
Another observation was a large area of glassy water about 0.5 mile offshore of the wall the size of several football fields wide and many more long…And right smack in the middle of windy, small white caps…As I passed through it I realized it was formed by a thick and long (1-mile long?) strand of seagrass on the outside that was dampening the wind across the doldrum-area.
Yesterday's wind was reminiscent of thermal forcing….maybe with climate change and hotter summer days, we will have more wind during summer? I am optimistic.
Happy 4th!
Eric
ooooo EXCUSE ME I DON'T MEAN TO IMPOSE, BUT I AM THE OCEAN ooooo
kathleen petereit
07/04/11 #10940
I have been studying the currents / wind / tide up here for the last 3 months. I can now predict quite accurately what the water will be doing in our area. I use sailflow.com to check the hourly current changes and bigwavedave for wind / wave direction on the webcam. In the hour before low tide the current starts to change and the water gets knarly. Depending on wind / wave direction it can get really ugly. About half an hour after low tide change if it's blowing SE 10 plus knots we get beauty waves coming into the bay. They build up and loop around Newcastle island funneling through the gap. These are such a pleasure to ride and we do loops in and out. I bet Dale know's more about this.
Kathleen
