La Jolla Launch 5/28

[flydigital]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

School me on these charts...what should I be looking at exactly? What's the average, or, good set size for LJ?

You have to look at period, swell height and direction to get a picture of what it will be like. Because there are underwater canyons north and south of the shores (LJ Canyon and Scripps Canyon), the underwater features channel long period energy along the canyons, making for bigger waves on each side of the shores while the shores may be considerably smaller.

This canyon effect doesn't work on short period swell however. Anything less than 10 seconds interval could be considered short period.

So if you are looking at the scripps pier wave heights, which is a good indicator, as well as general swell period/height/direction, you can assume that if the period is short, the waves at the shores will be similar to the pier. If the period is long, the waves will be smaller (about 1/2 or less depending on period).

The shores are not subject to south swell, just west through north-west.

So to sum it up, short period = bigger waves at the shore, long period = smaller. 4ft west swell at 6 second period is going to give you 4ft-ish waves at the shore. 8ft west at 16 second period is going to give you 2-4 foot waves at the shores (while it is breaking well overhead at the pier).

Here are some of the links I use:

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/index.p...lashoreswebcam
(wx and wave links at the bottom, i.e. scripps pier real time height and forecast)

http://www.wunderground.com (general wx/wind conditions)

http://www.weather.com (more marine details)

http://www.surfline.com (decent surf forecasts, great if you have a subscription, otherwise magicseaweed is good)

As always though forecasts are just that, you really have to look and see. But you should always know if the swell is rising or falling, so that you don't launch in barely makable conditions only to have to land in something far worse. Hope that helps some.