epic surprise - donegal

[garbarrage]

just back from a long weekend in donegal and i'm f***in gobsmacked... was expectin little i the way of waves but was so tired of the waves not cooperating at the weekends that i just had to give it a try.
1st day was pretty much as expected 1-2ft clean but couldn't complain, was just happy to be out after about a month of no surf.

then on the sunday the same beach started firing head height crackers which just kept gettin bigger as the tide dropped. easily the biggest waves i've successfully surfed. had friends all over the place in other more exposed locations and the message was the same all over the coast... flat everywhere. some of them refused to believe us so much that they didn't bother coming to see it for themselves. those that did were in awe tho they hid it well!!

was a bit crowded but most were very well behaved... except when richie fitzgerald drop in on me. but the poor guy was on his lunchbreak so i took it as an honour.

my question tho is this... it defies everything i thought i knew about wave prediction. anyone ever had a similar experience or know what could have caused it? i mean everywhere else even beaches 2 minutes down the road had nothing.

[garbarrage]

also I know this is probably in the wrong section but i'd most of it written before i noticed and its quite long so thanking sp in advance for moving it for me.... lol

[PapaW]

Nah its l good. I think its worthy of its own thread as it raises lot of points in Swell prediction/forecasting and how the geography of the ocean bed changes said swell.

if its in the SR guide do you mind saying which donnie break it was.. I'm presuming its going to hav ebeen Bunny way. If not no worry.. Just I was going to try and explain as to why this sort of thing happens for those that may be interested

[isaluteyou]

not so unusual. some beaches have a unique layout allowing them to work better on certain swell directions/tides. i remember spending the entire morning looking for surf around sandiego every was flat except for one spot that was firing and spewing barrels.

the best thing to see is when the size changes within a few hours. Ive seen it change from flat mush to Cleanish 6ft+ in probably 2-3hours

[garbarrage]

really interested myself... do i just chance the the weekends during the summer or what?
it was Tullan Strand which i know does pick up a lot of swell but this just seems to defy all logic!! you couldn't even see anything that resembled swell at the Peak nearby.

[PapaW]

I thought so... now the Swell over the weekend authough small in amplitude it had a solid period which leaves for a more powerful wave as we all know.

The Beauty of Tullan is that it is at the head of a funnel/river channle that has been cut much like a smaller version of the River that flows out of Caperton/Hossigor. In this case it faces due west straight into the Westerly swell that ws running.
Sid swell is concentrated up the underwater channel and hits the bech. As for it increasing with the drop of the tide this is cause by the beach ledge that comes out of the deeper wter being more 'accessable' by the lower water level and so in a way it jacks the wave up much like reef ledge would.

This is very general overview but a prime example how sea bed affect wave dynamics


Questions please hehe

[PapaW]

do i just chance the the weekends during the summer or what?

Well... chancing no.. but you can have n educated chance. Once again know what makes a spot works is the key. then its just case of looking t the detailed date and spotting those swell that may not be the dominant swell but in the spectrals they will show and you'd be amazed what you can score with pretty much everyone else being non-the wiser

[garbarrage]

that helps a lot.. thanks a mill.
with the age of the mobile phone and a spot as popular as Tullan I doubt everyone will be less wise(?)(long day apologies). but get the idea.
what am i looking for in the spectrals? particularly for Tullan. have a rough idea of how spectrals work but wouldn't base a 200mile trip on my limited knowledge of them.

[garbarrage]

also... just checked Magicd**kweed and they don't seem to do spectrals for us poor irish people. know where i can have a look at some?

[PapaW]

If you pick up the spectrls for cornwl. you cant work from them or the closest buoy.

For Tullan your looking for perfect due west swells or very slight bit of south in them when they are originating from due west of Eire. you see you can get west swell but they me originate from nearer Iceland and they won't show barley anything at Tullan.

Generaly when using this method you also need to combine it with the swel WAM maps and pressure charts so you cn see where the swell is being generated and where it is tracking.

Then of course you've got wind.

Its a very advanced method of forecasting for yourself but once you hav eit dialed the rewards are worth the time you put in.

[garbarrage]

ok... think i have an idea of how spectrals work... sounds like it might be a bit of hit and miss for a while, but i'm fairly sure i'll pick it up in the next few weeks. thanks again its been a great help.
does sound like a lot more work than i usually put in but definitely worth if i can score more days like sunday. didn't miss a bit of it.... got out when the sun went down. improve heaps every time i get a day out like that.

just one more thing... where is this river? can't seem to place one that i can picture having a huge effect on a beach the size of the strand. and how does this effect the quality of the swell. the only thing i can think of is that a deep channel funneling swell would create less drag underneath. is this close to what you're saying or am i way off?

[PapaW]

yes thats the case.. if you look at the Sat images you can see its positioning in relation to the surrounding land.
Ok, so presently it doesn't look like it would have any major effect but you see the entire Dogegal Bay is a huge inlet thats resulted from the action of the rivers, Atlantic swell and the geological faults/softer rocks. Thus what you see today as the 'funnel' And as its deeper than most inlets the swell travels up with less drag.

[Bonus]

Im just back from Ballyshannon and was surfing tullan over the wknd.....probably ran u over at some point ;P.

I was mad impressed, i wasnt expecting a thing!I came from the esat coast to the rory gallagher festival and said id bring my baord just incase!Im thinking of going west weekly for the next few weeks it was that good!

It wasnt even that the waves were good but that the weather was lovely at the same time was class! The other beach around the corner needs more wind and swell and when it goes off i heard its savage!

[garbarrage]

if you're talking about the peak savage is a bit of an understatement... bit too intense for me at its best... or even its average.
it was something special great wave, helpful rip, great weather, and some really sound people out in the water. the wave even stopped working for a couple of hours at high tide to give me a break i doubt I'd have taken otherwise.... longest session i've ever had easily 8 hours in the water... had nothing left in the tank at the end.

[garbarrage]

just checking what i may or may not have learned papaw.... was looking at the spectral for saunton woolacombe yesterday... seems to be the nearest one they give to donegal... had nothing special on the main swell but the 4th column gave 3ft 11seconds and west southwest direction all through the Fri... which guesstimating would show up early Sat morning. checked the tide and low tide was around 11am so had a glimmer of hope for a sat morning sesh.
this has now changed to thursday which i know is pretty common that far away... but was i right to have a glimmer of hope? is that the kind of thing i'm looking for?