High pressure dominates again – small surf continues.

If you’re thinking about coming down to learn how to surf, you’ll have the most perfect conditions for that every single day. If you want waves bigger than knee to waist high, you’ll have to wait. High pressure is setup over the entire North Atlantic and jamming things up again. The fronts aren’t pulling out into the ocean and just continue to stay over land and wreak havoc on the NE United States. Why can’t they just go off to sea? I want it, people in the NE US want it, everyone wants them to just blow out and away at sea. Unfortunately it’s just not what is happening. This pattern is supposed to persist for another week to 10 days so don’t expect any major surf during that time frame. This puts us towards the end of the month for the next likely swell event. Sorry folks.

Cold-front bombs out giving surf to Rincon, Puerto Rico.

Now we’re talking! This storm is a beast and it rapidly intensified right in our swell window. Sorry for all the folks in the NE United States who are going to get rocked by this massive storm. I hope you’re alright when this is all done. Bombogenesis is actually a real thing and is associated with some of the biggest swells to hit PR and unfortunately the most winter destruction in the northern latitudes at the same time. This storm definitely “bombed out” big time and will give us the first big swell of 2018. Expect some perfect Tres Palmas this weekend and just about every other spot performing as it does in a classic winter swell. Due to what I’m seeing on the Bahamas buoys, I’m inclined to think we’ll see the swell show up a bit bigger than what the automated surf forecast systems are anticipating. We’re definitely going to see double overhead conditions and possibly bigger. DO NOT PADDLE OUT IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING IN BIG WAVES! I really don’t want anyone to die surfing this storm. Please do not overestimate your abilities or underestimate the power of the ocean. As surfers we are always at the mercy of the elements. We are only in control of our own actions and nothing else. If the ocean wants to throw a 20ft clean-up set at you, it will and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You can only control where you are when that happens. For many, sitting on the beach watching will be the safest place to be when that happens.

More reasonable surf should be on tap for the coming week and offer plenty of “normal” waves that will still pack a punch. As of right now we’ve already had a couple of days of surf from this weather system and it looks like another week of rideable waves will follow. Plenty of opportunities at several spots should be available in the coming week so there’s no need to crowd one break. Expect a little bit of size to drop off each day, but if the right pattern sticks, we could see another decent long period swell by the end of next week to keep everyone surfing through the first half of January. I guess after a very quiet December surf-wise, the earth is trying to catch back up. Be safe everyone! Have fun!

Small surf for Rincon, Puerto Rico.

If only that massive, gigantic, insanely big and powerful winter storm was ANYWHERE in the Atlantic other than its current location we would have been surfing perfect overhead waves for a week already and for another week to come. Unfortunately it’s shooting all swell at Europe and Canada is blocking anything from heading our way. Instead we have tiny, little, baby storms to get a little background pulse from and super strong trade winds from high pressure. This is a terrible pattern and I don’t know when it will end. Appreciate any swell we get however we get it because at the end of the day, we’re at the mercy of natural phenomenon until wave parks fill the planet. That being said, some possibilities for smaller surf still exist in the coming days. From tomorrow through the weekend we should see some waist high waves with chest high sets at the right switch of the tides. The winds will continue to howl relentlessly so expect afternoons to be chopfest. The swell won’t be strong enough to reach the protected spots so don’t count on afternoon sessions at tucked away beaches. The pattern isn’t looking to change next week, but it should. This is a long time to go without any real swell at this time of year. We’ll have to wait and see.

Surf in Rincon blocked by high pressure.

That is a giant mess up there. Winter wants to do it’s thing but the Atlantic is currently being bullied by strong high pressure. This is diverting most of the winds and resulting swell away from the Caribbean and pushing it more towards Europe. December is officially the windiest month of the year for Puerto Rico but we normally see more northerly fetches set up. The high pressure isn’t allowing for the development of northerly fetch on the backside of the cold-fronts currently pulling off the states. As a result we will continue to only see marginal background swell through the forecast period. After a week more of this pattern we will be due for a change so I wouldn’t be surprised to see next week go off. As for this week, we should continue to see a small pulse in the waist to chest high range through tomorrow before the rest of the week goes small to flat. Surf lessons will have the time of their lives this week since it will be small and mellow. Saturday or Sunday might see a little bump up in the surf so it’s worth checking back to see what will happen.