Where did you surf today ?

[alakaboo]

I thought that was God.

[crabmeat thompson]

I thought that was God.

I love you.

[Donweather]

3-4ft with the odd 4ft+ bomb set, but slightly wonky/wobbly with mutliple swells in the water. What is it about S'ly swells? For the same swell period, they always seem to be way more powerful when compared to say an E'ly swell of the same period....always....it's like there's more volume in the S'ly swell waves or something?

[alakaboo]

Acting on different beach states, normally.
precursor wave climate, reflective-dissipative continuum and orientation means south swells hit different shaped banks.

[brownhornet]

coast still firing on 5th day in a row. Holiday crowds minimal and just spent 4 glorious hours surfing right handlers with some solid size and juice. Has been offshore all day for the last 2. Almost makes up for the worst summer I have seen in years. Almost! Set to run for another 3 days which will break a week. Don't think we even had 5 days of good surf since last sept so more than welcome on this stretch of coast

[Donweather]

Wore a hole/open rash in a stomach scar from paddling and patiently waiting for it to heal, don't want to push my luck while it's still scabbing.

MF you'll want to get that shit sorted before hitting the lovely waters of Indo/Bali. It'll guarantee to fester then!!!!

[Donweather]

Acting on different beach states, normally.
precursor wave climate, reflective-dissipative continuum and orientation means south swells hit different shaped banks.

So whilst they hit different shaped banks, surely that would mean that in some instances/locations, they would still be hitting a bank in a similar fashion/style to the way an E'ly swell hits another different bank? But every south swell I surf, the waves are ALWAYS more powerful for the same swell period as an E'ly swell.

[steve shearer]

it's rare to get E and S swells of the same period.

and that could be a function of where you are surfing Don, because the reverse is almost always true around here: E swells are usually more punchy and powerful for their period/height.

[channels]

From my understanding it is also the underwater bathymetry which also determines how much the swell is slowed down between source and destination. My guess is that there is a slow but consistent gradient from the source of the east swell which gradually erodes the power as opposed to the southerly swell which probably goes through deeper water/less friction resulting in more power when it gets to the destination.

[Donweather]

it's rare to get E and S swells of the same period.

Meh? This morning was a bog standard 9-11 sec period south swell. We get E'ly swells of those periods all the time!!!!

[Donweather]

From my understanding it is also the underwater bathymetry which also determines how much the swell is slowed down between source and destination. My guess is that there is a slow but consistent gradient from the source of the east swell which gradually erodes the power as opposed to the southerly swell which probably goes through deeper water/less friction resulting in more power when it gets to the destination.

But if the swell was slowed down due to the bathymetry, then wouldn't this also reduce the swell period?

What I'm trying to convey is that when I surf an E'ly swell with a swell period of say 9-11 seconds on the wave buoy/s the power in the surf is much much less than when I'm surfing a S'ly swell with a swell period of 9-11 seconds on the wave buoy/s also.

One thing I have noticed is that there is ALWAYS a sweep with S'ly swells also, moving in the same direction as the swell so perhaps this additinoal water movement aids the swell speed as it hits the bank, thus creating more power in the wave?? Whereas with an E'ly swell there is hardly ever any sweep to speak of, and certainly not moving in the same direction as the swell/waves.

[crabmeat thompson]

I dunno. Around here E swells can be really punchy.

The last few days of surf (S swell) I've found to be super playful, but a couple of weeks ago with the E swell, it'd rattle your teeth when it got you.

[alakaboo]

Yes, both of those guys are right too.
Assume you mean both the same period and amplitude, as you're a technical guy.

It is hard to explain what I mean without a lot of diagrams.

In general the beaches you would surf on an E swell are not the same type of beaches those you would surf on a S swell, and they are responding differently.
The beaches you surf on a S swell are likely to have incident waves that are more perpendicular to the coast and bigger, the E facing beaches will be 'preconditioned' to an angular approach (typically from the SE) with refracted waves and a lower 'top end' in their wave climate. This gives them a different beach 'typology' and they respond to wave energy differently.

If you mean the same beach under different conditions then it is a product of the normal/prevailing and recent wave climate, and what is know hitting it.
The depth, alignment, slope and rip influences of the banks will be different given different precedent wave conditions.

The difference in sweep is due to the angle of approach to the angle of the shoreline.

[Trev]

From my understanding it is also the underwater bathymetry which also determines how much the swell is slowed down between source and destination. My guess is that there is a slow but consistent gradient from the source of the east swell which gradually erodes the power as opposed to the southerly swell which probably goes through deeper water/less friction resulting in more power when it gets to the destination.

But if the swell was slowed down due to the bathymetry, then wouldn't this also reduce the swell period?

What I'm trying to convey is that when I surf an E'ly swell with a swell period of say 9-11 seconds on the wave buoy/s the power in the surf is much much less than when I'm surfing a S'ly swell with a swell period of 9-11 seconds on the wave buoy/s also.

One thing I have noticed is that there is ALWAYS a sweep with S'ly swells also, moving in the same direction as the swell so perhaps this additinoal water movement aids the swell speed as it hits the bank, thus creating more power in the wave?? Whereas with an E'ly swell there is hardly ever any sweep to speak of, and certainly not moving in the same direction as the swell/waves.

This is an interesting discussion. At my local, easterly swells are generally heavier than southerly (or SE swells). They hit you harder. (assuming the same period at the wave buoys).
They rear up more, too.
But there's never a "sweep" as such out in the line-up. There is closer in which is pretty natural with all the water hitting th eside of the point and needing to get out again.
Out in the line-up when there's a bit of size, there is often an innocuous (but none the less obvious), current pushing you back out through the drop zone and beyond.

[Beerfan]

E swell always seems to have more grunt in it here too.

[Yuke Hunt]

3 hours at mine.

Small but clean ... took an old trusty stick out ... happy now.

[Beanpole]

Funny looked exactly the same today as yesterday but the sets were closing out a bit more and sectioning. Last 4 or 5 days its just been big rolling peaks with smooth faces. Monday caught one of the biggest fast lefts I've caught in a while. Yesterday caught a bigger and cleaner one

Crowds have hit big time today. Be interesting to see how it goes if this swell hits tomorrow.

[channels]

Didn't have the luxury of too much time today so rocked up for the dawnie. Should have searched more as the bank I was on was getting overpowered on the early low tide. Got a few nice ones and a few decent flogging so to go with them.

Just checked DY and the point was looking fantastic, assuming you don't get killed by the drop ins.