Dad's dilemma: solo surf vacay, but in 35kph onshore?

[Sevitzky]

Arrrrgghhhhhhhh!!!

I live in Sri Lanka. I'm married with 2 young kids. I got time off from work, permission from the lady, and everything lined up to go hit Arugam Bay for 3 days. And now the forecast is showing 35kph winds onshore with a 1m@10s swell. I'm no expert out there, but all the points seem pretty exposed. I've seen main point in the same wind conditions and it's ugly.

I can take this solo vacation and drive 8 hours to get f'ed up by cauliflower mountains, or go to a smaller off-season spot, beach break, which has some blah waves but sheltered from the wind, and showing 1.5m@10s, and probably swallow a bit of sewage.

I'm really lucky to even get in the water during the pandemic. But a very rare chance to get away from family.

Dad Surfers: what do I do?

[jaffa1949]

Some times even the best plan holiday falls flat and victim to the vagaries of the surf gods! The you should have been here yesterday syndrome!
the shoulder ends of any season are more prone to it, but if you have things fall your way it could be a near epic crowdless time!
I have locked in and out of surf journeys by volcanoes ( Thank you indo ) early days on the north coast of NSW floods shutting down ferries and cranking swell, or just couldn’t get to it.
Take photos invent stories for your family , Sri Lanka needs visitors desperately ! Sit tight, roaming you might drive away from the swell, forecasts can be so wrong !

[Lebowski]

Can you not get something on the south coast? Is Sri Lanka letting tourists in yet? I was thinking of heading over again at the end of the year.

[jaffa1949]

I reread your original post, since you live in Sri Lanka, you just might have to be ready to match a forecast, rather than go when it is unfavorable.
surf is notorious in not match expectation, so also south east or south west, hmmmm

[Sevitzky]

Yeah, I live here, but I'm ball and chained to my job and two little humans that sort of look like me.

SL has two yearly seasons, so right now everything decent is a 7-8 hr drive away from me, which makes it really hard to time the forecasts. Things were better when it was on-season on the capital-side of the island, but we lost about half the season due to COVID.

I'm just gonna go (but bring my family so I don't have to hear about it afterwards) and see what happens.

It's a good reminder not to get caught up on expectations or micromanaging the forecast. The ocean delivers a surprise every day!

See you in the whitewater!