La Jolla Launch 5/28
 

Went out this morning to the shores to do what I have never done before, turned around:mad:
Everything was pointing in the direction of me not going out. Got there and there was 5 foot swells crashing far out, 1st Kayak got dumped with all his gear, couldn't find parking, clouds rolling in, wind picked up and just before I set off into the waves the lifeguard told me the boat launch was closed due to the storm coming in and extreme amount of rescues from yesterday. If you choose to go, be careful and have a safe memorial day!
:cheers1:

Interesting. I was out yesterday and was unaware of any rescues in the area. At about 2Pm when I landed the kayak tours were in full force.

I was planning on heading there tomorrow

Plenty of parking tomorrow, the trick is launch in the dark so you can't see those big ol waves!

http://magicseaweed.com/Scripps-Pier...rf-Report/296/

Say whaaaaaaat!!!!????

I usually just close my eyes and paddle until I don't waves crashing anymore.

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

you are going to die bro its going to be HUGE tomrrow!!! THe forecast has been off like by 3 feet everyday lately! Beaware! and I saw many people eat it at LJ including my self.

I'm gonna die:eek:?????!!!!!

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.

SD Bay today was nasty I can't imagine how bad the Shores must have been. I had my radio on and was listening to all the Chatter from the guys on boats saying how rough it was down at the Islands, I.B. and the Point. Sea Tow and Vessel Assist were constantly moving and getting called today.

From what I hear it's suppose to be worse tomorrow.

You didn't miss anything today. I launched at sunrise and fished until the wind started picking up at 1130. Slow day fishing but the launch and landing sure got the blood pumping.

current report
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>Swell

6.5ft @ 7secs </td> <td style="padding-left: 6px; padding-top: 8px;"> http://cdnimages.magicseaweed.com/swellArrows/280.png </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Wind

25mph</td></tr></tbody></table>

I've been looking at the webcam on and off most of they day, looks pretty fugly.