Surfing Waves

Looking at going Wednesday morning or Thursday afternoon. These are typically days in my area. I've only been outime 3 times (including my one lesson). I have a 9 foot soft top.

My question is, can I ride these waves, and what numbers should I been looking at/for to figure that hour before I make the hour drive out there?
Thanks

PS; learning threads are dead, last post was 2 years ago. So I decided to post here instead of waiting 2 years. Sorry mods.

We don't even know if you can swim. How could we tell if you can ride waves like that?

oldmansurfer wrote:We don't even know if you can swim. How could we tell if you can ride waves like that?

Glad to get a response. I can swim like a fish but i'm not understanding how that relates?

but the point of the question is, if i go out will these even be strong or big enough for me to get up on or last long enough for me to even bother with?

It's going to be pretty gutless.

Maybe if you have a big foam barge of a surfboard and can get away from that wind.

There's nothing wrong with going and checking it out, paddling around and practice surfing in gutless conditions.

Myself, I am a pretty decent surfer when the waves are perfect, but I struggle when conditions are bad.

My philosophy is it helps you as a surfer to go when conditions are less than perfect.

You can still have some fun if you just like goofing around in the surf.

Check a surf cam before you go, or if you are close, just have a look. Sometimes you will be surprised.

You are not showing the TIDE chart. That is just as important as wave height and wind direction.

A 3 foot tide change is huge, where I am. Here it's better low going up to high tide. Not sure what's best for Virginia Beach.

LostAtSea wrote:It's going to be pretty gutless.

Maybe if you have a big foam barge of a surfboard and can get away from that wind.

There's nothing wrong with going and checking it out, paddling around and practice surfing in gutless conditions.

Myself, I am a pretty decent surfer when the waves are perfect, but I struggle when conditions are bad.

My philosophy is it helps you as a surfer to go when conditions are less than perfect.

You can still have some fun if you just like goofing around in the surf.

Check a surf cam before you go, or if you are close, just have a look. Sometimes you will be surprised.

Great advice, thanks man. I will check it out even if it sucks.
In fact my board is like an airplane wing. It's a 9 foot soft top. So hopefully it will be my best bet.

waikikikichan wrote:You are not showing the TIDE chart. That is just as important as wave height and wind direction.

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A 3 foot tide change is huge, where I am. Here it's better low going up to high tide. Not sure what's best for Virginia Beach.

Thanks man. Here is a screenshot with the tide chart for one day. It's in meets which is about 3 feet. What should I be looking for?

It doesn't look good and I would wait for a better day.

MSW forecasts
https://magicseaweed.com/Virginia-Beach-Surf-Report/396/#Wednesday0506

Weds
* 27mph wind will create chop
* 3 short period swells will add to the mess
* After high tide the ocean will make a hasty retreat from +3.35ft to -.13ft forcing you to do extra paddles to stay in position.

Thurs
* There are "thundery showers" forecast. Lightning is no joke!

Webcam
https://www.vbbound.com/live-webcam-of-virginia-beach-boardwalk

BoMan wrote:It doesn't look good and I would wait for a better day.

MSW forecasts
https://magicseaweed.com/Virginia-Beach-Surf-Report/396/#Wednesday0506

Weds
* 27mph wind will create chop
* 3 short period swells will add to the mess
* After high tide the ocean will make a hasty retreat from +3.35ft to -.13ft forcing you to do extra paddles to stay in position.

Thurs
* There are "thundery showers" forecast. Lightning is no joke!

Webcam
https://www.vbbound.com/live-webcam-of-virginia-beach-boardwalk

I see what youre saying about the tide, and that makes sense. so in the future look for tide that isnt changing at that great of a magnitude. and that is a lot of wind.
They just changed the forecast to thunderstorms until Saturday, so i guess im sol anyway.

As far as the actual wave size though, 1-2 feet is acceptable for what ive got?
and how does swell period play into it? do i want a long period so im not fighting waves while im paddling out? or a short period so theres a lot to choose from?

thanks for the responses guys, i know this is basic stuff but im glad to learn it

Simple and quick answer, to get to know
How your beach works with the forecast you have to go!
Charts are only an advisory, local Knowledge of how the Beach responds is better.

Tides can makes bank work or fail, tucked in areas around a point may offer something!

Now wave period, simply put, the longer the period (wave length) the more power is on offer at that size!

Just go!

jaffa1949 wrote:Simple and quick answer, to get to know
How your beach works with the forecast you have to go!
Charts are only an advisory, local Knowledge of how the Beach responds is better.

Tides can makes bank work or fail, tucked in areas around a point may offer something!

Now wave period, simply put, the longer the period (wave length) the more power is on offer at that size!

Just go!

Thanks man. I am trying to plan a little though. The nearest beach is 60 miles away and a better one is 100. I don't mind the drive but I would like to plan it so it will be good when I get there. But hopefully I will be making a lot more trips. Looks like it's a wash until Saturday though, thunderstorms.

It is hard to learn a beach unless you are there, obviously - and unfortunately

To expand on what jaffa said, keep in mind that waves break over sandbars, banks, reefs etc. A wave will generally break in water that has a depth of 1.3X it’s height https://surfing-waves.com/waves/how_waves_break.htm

So for a given wave height, whether it breaks or not depends on the depth. Which in turn depends on the tide - a 2ft wave might break on one beach at high tide, but the sandbar on the beach next door might be 6ft deep at high tide and so the same wave doesn’t break at all. It might be good at low tide, but the sandbar at the first beach is fully exposed at low tide and unsurfable

Then you have swell direction -a wave coming from the SE might hit a sand bar straight on and close out or might hit it at a great angle for creating a long peeling wave. Or there might be a headland that blocks the swell entirely

Then you get wind and period and swell size. Etc

In any case, when a swell is of marginal height it’s pretty hard to say whether it’s surfable at any particular beach, unless you know that specific beach. If the swell is bigger - say 4-6 foot - you at least know there will be waves. They may not be good surfing waves everywhere (wrong direction) or might be hard to surf (eg fast breaking at low tide), but something will be breaking

So...it’s just one of those things. You have to try and see. Ideally scout out 3-5 potential beaches/breaks (that face different directions etc) and that gives you some flexibility. If one isn’t working, another one might be.

SnakePlissken wrote:

oldmansurfer wrote:We don't even know if you can swim. How could we tell if you can ride waves like that?

Glad to get a response. I can swim like a fish but i'm not understanding how that relates?

but the point of the question is, if i go out will these even be strong or big enough for me to get up on or last long enough for me to even bother with?

Well you have lots of responses this time. I could probably surf those waves but I have no idea if you can. You want to know more than that if it will be worth your time. That is a difficult question to answer and the real answer is to try it and find out. Then if you find it a waste of time don't go back when the forecast is similar. You need to get familiar with your abilities and the conditions at the beach you want to surf at. If you keep a journal of all the good days you have and the forecasts (including tides) for those days then you should be able to pick out a pattern of conditions that are suitable for you.

dtc wrote:It is hard to learn a beach unless you are there, obviously - and unfortunately

To expand on what jaffa said, keep in mind that waves break over sandbars, banks, reefs etc. A wave will generally break in water that has a depth of 1.3X it’s height https://surfing-waves.com/waves/how_waves_break.htm

So for a given wave height, whether it breaks or not depends on the depth. Which in turn depends on the tide - a 2ft wave might break on one beach at high tide, but the sandbar on the beach next door might be 6ft deep at high tide and so the same wave doesn’t break at all. It might be good at low tide, but the sandbar at the first beach is fully exposed at low tide and unsurfable

Then you have swell direction -a wave coming from the SE might hit a sand bar straight on and close out or might hit it at a great angle for creating a long peeling wave. Or there might be a headland that blocks the swell entirely

Then you get wind and period and swell size. Etc

In any case, when a swell is of marginal height it’s pretty hard to say whether it’s surfable at any particular beach, unless you know that specific beach. If the swell is bigger - say 4-6 foot - you at least know there will be waves. They may not be good surfing waves everywhere (wrong direction) or might be hard to surf (eg fast breaking at low tide), but something will be breaking

So...it’s just one of those things. You have to try and see. Ideally scout out 3-5 potential beaches/breaks (that face different directions etc) and that gives you some flexibility. If one isn’t working, another one might be.

You're tickling my engineering brain. Thanks that actually teaches me a lot. I'll check out the article you linked. But I think everyone here is giving a common and great answer. "Just get out there." So I guess that's what I'll do.

After the thunderstorms...

Thanks for all the responses guys, it's really helpful. I'm going to like this forum.