So were the Swells really 9-12 ft today?

[drbill]

I was on the King Neptune and we only ran the coast to the Empire Landing Quarry today. A few were a bit queasy on the boat although on the leeward side the swells weren't more than 2-4 ft. Several did have trouble getting back on the swimstep.

 

[Taniwha]

I was on the Sundiver out of Long Beach, and the swells were 6-8', sometimes more. A few people got sick, and I got so sick I elected not to dive. (I hadn't taken my Triptone.) It was uncomfortable on so many levels: I was seasick, I was cold and wet from standing at the rail amidships, I had to use the head, every time I'd go into the head, I'd get more seasick, so I had to come back out...my triptone was in my dive box on the bow, and I couldn't get anywhere near it without getting thoroughly soaked.

What? No fanfare?? No "Get Well" cards? Bah! :lol:

Actually, that's the worst it's ever been for me. Poor planning on my part, and you can be sure in the future I'll dress warmly and take my pills. I will not, however, give up boat diving!

Cheers,
Doug

 

[normantr]

There was some West wind swell today.

I was also on the Magician Saturday, and believe me, that was not just "wind swell". 9-12ft it was not, but it was a good 5-8ft with the occasionaly bigger swell mixed in for fun. Add to that the wind swell and you had a fun ride out. As was stated before, the ride back was a little better, but that was more due to the fact we were traveling mostly down swell.

 

[riguerin]

I was also on the Magician Saturday, and believe me, that was not just "wind swell". 9-12ft it was not, but it was a good 5-8ft with the occasionaly bigger swell mixed in for fun. Add to that the wind swell and you had a fun ride out. As was stated before, the ride back was a little better, but that was more due to the fact we were traveling mostly down swell.

According to the San Pedro buoy observations for Sat 5/27, the primary source of the swell spectrum was from the West (270 Deg), ~4ft height, with approx 8 sec intervals. By definition any swell with less than 14 sec interval is considered short period energy, or wind swell. In this case, it was generated by a local system off the N. Calif coast (North and West of Pt Conception), rather than the massive storm systems that march accross the N.Pacific during our Winter and S.Pacific during our Summer. The energy that is transferred to the ocean from these local wind systems travels along the surface of the ocean and is consequently highly susceptible to wave decaying elements. Therefore, it is highly doubtful that we would see 9-12ft swell by time they reached our near shore waters. It is even more doubtful that any boats would be running, if they did.

Additionally, on Saturday morning we also experienced an off shore eddy system. The same NW winds that generated the aforementioned wind swell, created a counter clock wise circulation that swirl around near Catalina Island. The phenomenon, common from May to around July, is also referred to as the "Catalina Eddy". It is characterized by strong/moderate South winds (from the circulation), surface chop, and cloudy overcast skies.

So, if we had 4 ft of W wind swell plus another 2-3 ft of SE wind chop, you could very well get combined wave heights between 4-7ft. This sounds totally consistent with the reports from folks on the boats. Bottom line, if you were out on a boat this past Saturday, you undoubtedly had a very bumpy ride.

To learn more about wave forecasting and meteorology, check out Surfline. There's also a good Q&A article there on the Catalina Eddy effect.