CRNW 2017-0309 (Thu) Forecast & Report

Another fun day surfriding The Rock! I think are bodies are beginning to tire after four consecutive surf days plus our arrival afternoon and an off day after arrival day. Swell was a little larger today resulting in slightly larger drops but most wave shoulder faces were 3 to 4 ft. down the line, some a little larger. Increased punchiness and length of rides confirms the longer period swell. Where I did not have a real long ride there was usually an inside wall to take within minutes -- some of these inside rides were the best ones of the day. Winds were offshore, stronger with northerly angle during the last half hour so I called it quits at that point after riding blind for 30 yards on one ride.

In summary, it is easy to call the last couple of days 3-5 ft, offshores, sometimes strong.

  Model Cycle: 2017 MAR 09 06Z          
  Time Zone: GMT - 6 hours              
-------------------------------------------------------------
             SURF    SURF DIR   SEAS  PERIOD   WIND    WND/DIR
             (ft)       (deg)   (ft)   (sec)   (kts)     (deg)
            -------  --------  -----  ------  -------  -------
3/9    6am   4 -  9   SW 214    5.1    15.3   15 - 20   NE  44 THU
3/9   12pm   4 -  8   SW 216    4.4    15.2    5 -  7    N 356
3/9    6pm   3 -  7   SW 214    4.5    14.6   13 - 18   NE  43
 
3/10   6am   4 -  8   SW 216    5.1    14.3   16 - 21  ENE  59 FRI
3/10  12pm   3 -  7   SW 216    4.4    14.2    2 -  3  SSE 161
3/10   6pm   3 -  6   SW 216    3.9    13.7    6 -  8  SSW 204
 
3/11   6am   3 -  7   SW 217    4.6    13.5   14 - 19  ENE  55 SAT
3/11  12pm   4 -  8  SSW 194    4.2    17.5    5 -  7   SW 220
3/11   6pm   3 -  7  SSW 196    4.0    16.5    6 -  8  SSW 209
 
3/12   6am   3 -  7  SSW 199    4.1    15.3    9 - 13  ENE  51 SUN
3/12  12pm   3 -  7  SSW 200    4.1    14.6    5 -  7   SW 226
3/12   6pm   3 -  6  SSW 201    3.9    14.3    2 -  3  WSW 231
 
3/13   6am   3 -  7   SW 219    3.7    17.8    4 -  6  NNE  15 MON
3/13  12pm   3 -  7   SW 218    3.7    17.6    6 -  8    W 274
3/13   6pm   3 -  7   SW 218    3.7    16.7    3 -  4   SW 221
 
3/14   6am   3 -  7   SW 218    3.6    16.4    5 -  7  NNW 345 TUE
3/14  12pm   3 -  6   SW 218    3.6    15.6    7 - 10  WNW 296
3/14   6pm   3 -  7   SW 218    3.8    15.4    5 -  7  WSW 235
 
3/15   6am   4 -  8   SW 219    4.7    14.8   15 - 21   NE  38 WED
3/15  12pm   3 -  7   SW 220    4.6    14.5    7 - 10   NE  32
3/15   6pm   3 -  7   SW 221    4.1    14.3    6 -  8  ESE 106
 
3/16  12am   4 -  8   SW 221    4.8    14.3   18 - 24   NE  48 THU

Effective Wednesday evening

FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS 

• Fun surf Fri-Mon
• Light/favorable AM winds
• More fun surf long range (but nothing major)

SHORT TERM FORECAST: (through Monday, March 13th)                        

South Pacific: Fresh Southern Hemi swell will gradually build in Thursday with modest/fun zone surf, but will primarily show from this Friday through next Monday the 13th. This will be more 'west' than the swells we've seen of late coming from the SW (220-210 degrees) for Fri-Sat from a distant storm recently near New Zealand. While sets are likely lully, fun size waves in the waist-chest high range look likely at the better breaks, while standouts see occasional shoulder high sets.

A follow-up SSW swell (205-190) for Sun-Mon should be both slightly larger and at least a bit more consistent thanks to a closer storm the past couple days. At this point we expect the exposed breaks to see waist-shoulder high surf, while good spots hit head high (and standouts may even be a little larger).

Wind/Weather: A diurnal pattern continues across most of Costa Rica through the week. Mornings will start with light/variable to locally light offshore flow, with winds trending onshore by the mid to late morning. Then a light to moderate onshore sea-breeze develops in the afternoons, with a clean up in some areas around sunset.

For northernmost CR (north of Playa Grande), look for breezy offshore flow to persist for the remainder of the week.

EXTENDED FORECAST: (Tuesday, March 14th, and beyond)   
       
South Pacific: The swell mentioned above will be fading into mid-week while a fresh SW swell (225-205) moves in to maintain at least waist-chest high surf at good spots while standouts go shoulder high on sets. Wednesday looks like the strongest day with potential for sets running up to head high at focal points.

Beyond that, model guidance has been fairly consistent in showing more swells from the SW and SSW through the back half of the month. We're of at least medium confidence that more fun size surf will prevail, at least similar in size to the above swells. We'll have more details in our next few forecast updates.