CRNW Forecast and Report for Fri, 2015-0619

The Final Surf Report: Tim's wake-up alarms started ringing at 4:15a, I crawled out of bed at 5a, make some coffee and wandered outside to assess the surf conditions. Offshore winds, check. Swell breaking on the rocks and at the far southern point, check. Condition; Green.

We were in the water by 6a, finishing up the trip in a wonderful way with good waves for all. Surf was 3 to 6 ft.

Post session grinds: eggs, bacon, gallo pinto, watermelon. Am I missing anything?

After clean-up we started the packing process. Tim and Mary head to the airport hotel for a 7a flight tomorrow morning. Tim and I are having a prepared meal of tenderloin and spaetal at our villa this evening. We will hit the road around 7a, pointed to the German restaurant near the airport for breakfast, return the rental vehicle and head to the airport. ETA to BWI is midnight.

  Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 19 06Z          
  Time Zone: GMT - 6 hours              
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/19   6am   6 - 12   SW 219    5.8    17.7   15 - 20  ENE  57
6/19  12pm   5 - 11   SW 219    5.5    17.4    9 - 12  ENE  72
6/19   6pm   4 -  9   SW 219    4.8    16.6    3 -  4   SE 143

CRNW Forecast and Rpt of Thu, 2015-0618

Winding Down. Heavy cloud cover this morning... no sunrise orange/pink looking out my window at daybreak. It was a good surf day. We did another early low-going-high, two hours into the cycle.


  Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 18 06Z         
  Time Zone: GMT - 6 hours             
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/18   6am   3 -  6    S 179    4.6    11.1    9 - 12   NE  44
6/18  12pm   5 - 10   SW 220    4.6    19.0    3 -  5  NNE  17
6/18   6pm   5 - 10   SW 219    4.5    18.9    7 - 10   NE  48

6/19   6am   5 - 10   SW 219    5.1    17.7   11 - 16  ENE  62
6/19  12pm   4 -  9   SW 219    4.7    17.4    2 -  3  ESE 118
6/19   6pm   4 -  8   SW 219    4.5    16.6    4 -  5  SSW 201





Effective Wednesday evening

SHORT TERM FORECAST (through Friday, June 19th)
Highlights: Fun zone Southern Hemi swells move in.

South Pacific Swell: Blend of South and SW swell (190, 230-205°, with the SW component partially shadowed by the Galapagos in the southern half of CR) continues into the second half of the week. Thursday sees waist-shoulder-head high range waves at well exposed spots. Those heights hold for Friday as the South and SW combo eases and a fresh SSW swell begins to show. 

CRNW Forecast and Rpt of Wed, 2015-0617

Report to Follow: We hit the water at 11am, surfing for 2 hrs (me) and almost 3 hrs (Tim and Terry). I caught so many waves during the first hour my body was aching head to toe... riding northside inside Rock where a nice peak has been appearing with the low tide, easy tail dip take-offs and pounding rides and a couple of cover ups... and one near cover-up that I got pounded on :) Later I moved to Northside Rock in Wash Country, sometimes direct Northside. My last wave was from between Southside Rock and Lil' Ala Moana, a beauty of a sliding drop, cover-up, couple great turns and the wall holding up strong and steep into the interior country. Caught a little one to place me nearly into the put-in place.

Waves were 4-7 ft with Papagayos blowing all day, semi-fuerte at times. Everyone agreed it was the best day (well, except for Tim who liked yesterday's smaller surf more).

Great breakfast of eggs, bacon, gallo pinto and fruit. Dinner at the local Tico restaurant.


  Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 17 06Z         
  Time Zone: GMT - 6 hours             
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/17   6am   4 -  9  SSW 196    5.8    13.4   15 - 21  ENE  54 WED
6/17  12pm   4 -  8    S 188    5.4    12.7   10 - 13  ENE  73
6/17   6pm   3 -  6    S 189    4.8    12.3    5 -  8    S 184

6/18   6am   3 -  6    S 179    4.7    11.1   10 - 13   NE  48 THU
6/18  12pm   5 - 10   SW 220    4.6    19.0    3 -  4  ENE  66
6/18   6pm   5 - 10   SW 219    4.4    18.9    1 -  2   SE 131

6/19   6am   5 - 10   SW 219    5.0    17.7   12 - 16  ENE  53 FRI
6/19  12pm   5 - 10   SW 219    4.8    17.4    4 -  5  ENE  73
6/19   6pm   4 -  9   SW 219    4.6    16.6    2 -  3   SE 144

CRNW Forecast and Rpt of Tue, 2015-0616

Report to follow later. Wow, only four more surfing days.

We paddled out at about 2.5 hrs into high tide. The plan had been earlier but we chatted with the former manager of our old hotel for about a half hour. Tim was first into the water again and first to catch a wave. He starts fast in a surf session and was picking off one wave after another on his 5 ft FrankenBoogie paipo. After an hour Terry and I were up to tempo. I stayed way off the Rock to the north and a little inside to catch the WSW mix for many clean face take offs and a nice cover-up on one. I tried to be fancy-dancy on the next for another pull-in but was demolished! Waves were mostly 2-5 ft with some 6-footers rolling in. Terry & I surfed for 3 hrs. 

Offshore winds all day!!! One of my shirts actually dried toasty dry! I should have set all my t-shirts out, lol.

Big breakfast post-session, around 230p, of eggs, bacon, gallo pinto and cantelope, watermelon, papaya and pineapple.



  Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 16 06Z         
  Time Zone: GMT - 6 hours             
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/16   6am   4 -  9    S 182    4.9    16.4   14 - 19   NE  43
6/16  12pm   4 -  9    S 186    5.0    15.4    8 - 11  ENE  72
6/16   6pm   4 -  8  SSW 198    4.6    14.7    6 -  8  ENE  68

6/17   6am   4 -  8  SSW 196    5.2    13.4   13 - 17  ENE  63
6/17  12pm   3 -  7    S 188    4.9    12.7    4 -  6    E  99
6/17   6pm   3 -  6    S 189    4.6    12.3    7 - 10  SSW 208

6/18   6am   3 -  6    S 179    4.7    11.1   10 - 14   NE  45
6/18  12pm   5 - 10   SW 220    4.7    19.0    1 -  1  ESE 124
6/18   6pm   5 - 10   SW 219    4.5    18.9    7 -  9  SSW 197

6/19   6am   5 - 10   SW 219    4.9    17.7   12 - 16  ENE  61
6/19  12pm   4 -  9   SW 219    4.7    17.4    2 -  4    E  84
6/19   6pm   4 -  9   SW 219    4.6    16.6    3 -  4    S 178

Effective Monday evening

SHORT TERM FORECAST (through Friday, June 19th)
Highlights: Fun zone Southern Hemi swells move in. Small tropical swell drops out.

South Pacific Swell: Fading SW swell (230-205°) which is partially shadowed by the Galapagos in the southern half of CR, will be joined by some new, overlapping South and SW swells during the first half of the week. Tuesday sees mainly knee-chest high waves off the mix at exposures, then Wednesday and Thursday fill into the waist-shoulder-head high range at well exposed spots. Those heights hold for Friday as the South and SW combo ease and a fresh SSW swell begins to show.

Tropics: All eyes on Carlos, the system that barely regained hurricane status today with maximum sustained winds of 65kts about 160 miles SSE of Manzanillo, Mexico. Carlos is a modest scale system, tracking WNW at 5kts. The system is due to hold that heading while maintaining hurricane force winds through the next 24/36 hours.

Under that scenario, modest shorter period WSW/W swell lasts for Tuesday in the knee to waist high range at exposures then that small surf drops out by mid week.

CRNW Forecast and Rpt of Mon, 2015-0615

Mid-morning surf. Report to follow. The forecast for the today and the next few are so divergent in Swell Size and Periodicity. How can that be? I very much like those offshore winds shown in the table below.

Update: The swell ended up being larger than the bar graph below but not as large as the table below. Early in our morning session, at mid-tide going high, Tim was shagging the mostly 2 to 3 ft waves non-stop on his FrankenPaipo. Terry and I were more frustrated as the white water assist drops were mostly white water pound downs and the faces were too soft. With the tide filling in I moved to the Rock Southside/lil' Ala Moana region where I started to pick off semi-regular face waves in the 4-5 ft range. Terry also dialed in inside the Rock with some nice rides.

Great post-session breakfast of eggs (by Mary), sliced fruit, and gallo pinto and grits (both by Tim). For dinner, the local tico restaurant and the pizza place were both closed so we ended up the the gringos place.

Sunset last night was wonderful, Venus and Mars lighting up early before the darkness, and the regular "Pirate Happy Hour" crew were on-station at the bar with their BYOB supply.


  Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 15 06Z         
  Time Zone: GMT - 6 hours             
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/15   6am   2 -  4   SW 218    3.8    10.1   10 - 13  ENE  53
6/15  12pm   4 -  8    S 185    4.0    18.1    2 -  3  SSE 168
6/15   6pm   4 -  8    S 182    4.1    17.7    7 -  9   SW 219

6/16   6am   4 -  8    S 182    4.4    16.4   11 - 16   NE  39
6/16  12pm   4 -  8    S 186    4.6    15.3    7 -  9  ENE  79
6/16   6pm   3 -  7  SSW 199    4.5    14.7    3 -  5  SSE 153

6/17   6am   3 -  7  SSW 196    4.8    13.4   10 - 14  ENE  59
6/17  12pm   3 -  7    S 188    4.7    12.7    2 -  3  SSE 164
6/17   6pm   3 -  6    S 189    4.5    12.3    6 -  9  WSW 239

6/18   6am   2 -  5    S 179    4.5    11.1    9 - 12   NE  48
6/18  12pm   5 - 10   SW 220    4.5    19.0    2 -  3  ENE  59
6/18   6pm   5 - 10   SW 219    4.6    18.9    3 -  4    S 185

6/19   6am   4 -  9   SW 219    4.6    17.7    9 - 12   NE  46
6/19  12pm   4 -  9   SW 219    4.5    17.4    0 -  1  WSW 240
6/19   6pm   4 -  8   SW 219    4.4    16.6    2 -  3    S 174

CRNW Forecast and Rpt of Sun, 2015-0614

Report to follow: It was a two-wave day for me today, one off of Lil' Ala Moana and the other from Rod's Rock Southside. Both were good waves. I would have caught a few more at Lil' except we started experiencing nice offshores and the waves started to break on the inside rather than the outside rock line. It was a light swell rolling, but true S to SW which makes for a well-formed, long wave. Always good to expereience caution with only two week of water separating the water's surface and the ragged lava reef. 

The water and skies were ultra beautiful so it was wonderful to just hang out.

Terry and Mary arrived around 1pm, and I packed, moved and settled in the casita with Tim. Dinner at the Swiss place after a happy hour sunset at our usual hotel (closed).
One can only hope that the swell starts filling in on Monday as indicated by the Buoyweather table shown below!

  Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 14 06Z        
  Time Zone: GMT - 7 hours            
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/14   5am   2 -  4    S 188    3.2    12.5    6 -  9  ENE  55 SUN
6/14  11am   2 -  5  SSW 190    3.4    12.3    2 -  3    N   9
6/14   5pm   2 -  4  SSW 191    3.5    11.6    3 -  4  SSW 208

6/15   5am   2 -  4   SW 211    3.8    10.8    7 -  9  ENE  54 MON
6/15  11am   3 -  6  SSW 206    3.9    13.8    1 -  2    N 356
6/15   5pm   4 -  8  SSW 191    4.0    17.7    3 -  4    S 179

6/16   5am   4 -  8    S 188    4.3    16.4    7 - 10  ENE  56 TUE
6/16  11am   3 -  7  SSW 190    4.3    15.4    1 -  1    S 170
6/16   5pm   3 -  7  SSW 201    4.3    14.7    3 -  4    S 182

6/17   5am   3 -  7  SSW 197    4.7    13.4    9 - 13  ENE  63 WED
6/17  11am   3 -  7    S 188    4.6    12.8    1 -  2   SE 135
6/17   5pm   3 -  6    S 189    4.5    12.3    5 -  6  SSW 191

6/18   5am   2 -  5    S 178    4.5    11.2    8 - 10  ENE  61 THU
6/18  11am   4 -  9   SW 225    4.3    19.0    0 -  1    S 185
6/18   5pm   4 -  9   SW 225    4.2    18.9    3 -  5   SW 212

6/19   5am   4 -  9   SW 223    4.3    17.7    6 -  8   NE  36 FRI
6/19  11am   4 -  9   SW 223    4.4    17.5    5 -  7    N   4
6/19   5pm   4 -  8   SW 221    4.4    16.6    5 -  8  NNE  21

CRNW Forecast and Rpt, 2015-0613p

Non-surf day report. Swell surf in the water and a good day to drive Terry to the Liberia airport to meet his wife. On the way we stopped at the farmer's market picking up a load of fruit and veggies, lunch at the German Bakery and knock back a couple of beers. Will walk up to The Rock and give it a dip in the morning to stay in shape for the larger swell coming our way.

 Model Cycle: 2015 JUN 13 18Z         
 Time Zone: GMT - 7 hours             
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
6/13  11am   2 -  4  SSW 195    3.1    13.0    2 -  3   SW 215 SAT
6/13   5pm   2 -  4  SSW 193    3.0    13.1    5 -  7    S 177

6/14  11am   2 -  4  SSW 190    3.3    12.3    3 -  4  NNE  25 SUN
6/14   5pm   2 -  4  SSW 191    3.4    11.6    3 -  4  WNW 286

6/15  11am   3 -  6  SSW 205    3.9    13.7    0 -  0  ESE 116 MON
6/15   5pm   4 -  8  SSW 191    4.0    17.7    7 - 10  SSW 204

6/16  11am   2 -  5   SW 210    4.2    11.9    3 -  5  WNW 303 TUE
6/16   5pm   3 -  7  SSW 201    4.4    14.7    1 -  2   SW 225

6/17  11am   3 -  6    S 188    4.6    12.7    1 -  2  SSW 200 WED
6/17   5pm   3 -  6  SSW 190    4.4    12.3    5 -  7   SW 214

6/18   5am   2 -  5    S 179    4.3    11.2    8 - 10  ENE  60 THU
6/18  11am   4 -  9   SW 225    4.3    19.0    1 -  2  SSE 168
6/18   5pm   4 -  9   SW 225    4.2    18.9    6 -  8   SW 210

6/19   5am   4 -  9   SW 223    4.3    17.7    5 -  7   NE  46 FRI
6/19  11am   4 -  8   SW 223    4.3    17.5    2 -  3  WNW 302
6/19   5pm   4 -  8   SW 222    4.2    16.6    2 -  2  WSW 259



Effective Friday evening

SHORT TERM FORECAST (through Monday, June 15th)
Highlights: Fading SW swell over the next few days. Keeping a close eye on the tropics.

South Pacific Swell: Fading SW swell (230-205°) will continue to back down into early next week. Saturday through Monday will offer surf mainly around waist high or less at the better exposed breaks. Top spots will produce some larger sets around chest high. NOTE - This swell is strongest for the northern half of Costa Rica, with partial shadowing by the Galapagos on the southern half.

Tropics: Tropical Storm Carlos is nearly stationary, spinning about 160 miles south/southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. Carlos is expected to hit hurricane force over the weekend as the system parallels the coast of Mainland Mexico through the first part of next week.

We expect modest shorter period WSW/W swell that will rise up over the next few days, peaking Mon/Tues in the knee to waist high range at exposures. Keep an eye on Carlos here and the region forecast boxes above, while additional information can be found at the NHC.

EXTENDED FORECAST (Tuesday, June 16th and beyond)
Highlights: Keeping a close eye on the tropics. Modest to locally fun-size SPAC pulses lining up for next week.

South Pacific Swell: Further out - nothing major lining up on the long-range radar right now, just modest to locally fun-size SPAC pulses; staying primarily within the waist-shoulder high zone for top spots.
1) Overlapping South and SW swells for the 17th-18th, initially filling in over the 16th.
2) Potentially similar size overlapping South and SW swells for the 20th-25th, initially filling in over the 19th. Stay posted for updates, as most of those pulses are still pending development.