Like most here, I have places I have surfed for years and I know what to expect when I get there size wise after checking the wave rider buoy.

But for the best part of this year but not sure exactly when, pretty much everywhere is smaller than it used to be. I don't mean "scabs used pump when I was a kid but now it sucks" sort of thing. I mean reef and beach breaks.

What do you guys think?

Yeah, it's been discussed a few times. Two or three years ago it changed by about 0.3m-0.4m on the Cott buoy. So when it used to be 0.7m on the Cott buoy graph and was potentially 3-4' at Trigg has now become 1.0m-1.1m. And when I used to count on Cott starting to be worthwhile at 0.9-1.0m it's now useless at that height.

2 or 3 years ago, how time flies!

The place I surfed today used to max out and shut down on the sets on a 2.2m swell like we had today but it was breaking more like a 1.8m swell so that would make sense.

Why did it change?

No idea. But it made things difficult for a while. I still haven't worked out the changes very well.

Global waming,ice caps melting,water levels rising,swell needs to big bigger to break on the extra water over the reefLOL

or carbon tax takes 10% of wave height now days.Thanks Jullia

Maybe the rope attached to the anchore of the buoy has stretched.


If you havent already guessed,,,,I dont know the reason.

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Legion said...

But it made things difficult for a while. I still haven't worked out the changes very well.

Agreed. Had it nailed for years and years... now having to retrain myself... I've made a few bad calls heading in the wrong direction over the last few months - and I think it is directly related to this matter...

I know for m,e I have noticed higher tides and less sand. This is on all the breaks I surf. with out the sand and the correct tide, the breaks need an extra 1/2 meter or more swell to do it's thing. I am not sure where the sand goes but I would love some back at my fav. breaks. On Thursday there was so much swell I thought every place would have hollow sections all down the coast, I ended up surfing a groin break cause it was the only place that had trapped enough sand to cause some great tubes. Surfed the same place on Wednesday for the same reason.

Dunno what you guys are talking about I scored yesterday

you will find the cott buoy is maintained by freo port authority, so you'd need to check with them how often it is removed and recalibrated/serviced - think the hand over was a couple of years ago, so might line up with legions observation of a change

DoT is just provided with the data to upload to web still

the rotto buoy etc is changed out yearly by the wave and tides guys at DoT, so technically it is not a "re-calibration" - it is a newly installed (ie cleaned and maintained) wave rider each year

a note on tides - the "tide" can't actually be higher than normal, as it can be calculated/predicted as per your position on the globe due to solar and lunar cycles to a very high accuracy - and this of course changes every year
the surges due to barometric effects, wind and wave set up and even randomer occurences such as shelf waves, are what vary year to year, with the la nina year we just had causing higher water levels on average around various locations in the state
got to love how dynamic our ocean is - keeps some of us in a job!

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mazdon said...

you will find the cott buoy is maintained by freo port authority, so you'd need to check with them how often it is removed and recalibrated/serviced - think the hand over was a couple of years ago, so might line up with legions observation of a change

DoT is just provided with the data to upload to web still

the rotto buoy etc is changed out yearly by the wave and tides guys at DoT, so technically it is not a "re-calibration" - it is a newly installed (ie cleaned and maintained) wave rider each year

a note on tides - the "tide" can't actually be higher than normal, as it can be calculated/predicted as per your position on the globe due to solar and lunar cycles to a very high accuracy - and this of course changes every year
the surges due to barometric effects, wind and wave set up and even randomer occurences such as shelf waves, are what vary year to year, with the la nina year we just had causing higher water levels on average around various locations in the state
got to love how dynamic our ocean is - keeps some of us in a job!

www.midwestports.com.au/profiles/midwestports/custom/seaview/

Tide higher than predicted. Case solved

Ok so what link do you guys use? Exactly..

I've just used Sea Breeze for wind and swell direction. Maybe i need to start getting more techno head..?

^^^
www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/marine-information.asp

Thanks DJMWA, so what said is correct. Tides have been higher than predicted on average .2 to .3 of a meter.
But what MAZDON says also is true. La nina has played a part in this funny sea we have had.
Still can't find our sand. Has any one got a freaking big new sand pit?