East Coast
This weekend on the east coast is looking like there will be 1-2ft waves but these are driven by the 20-30mph onshore winds pushing up a weak 5 second swell which will only really push waves for beginners on foamies or kids. Sunday sees similar conditions again but this time with the winds coming from the East North East which while onshore drops back to light onshore less than 10mph later in the day but still only around the 1-2ft range.
South Coast
Conditions in Tramore are looking cross onshore for Saturday with the winds blowing 20-30mph from the East South East making for bumpy messy conditions with the waves in the 3-4ft range blown over. Sunday shows much cleaner conditions with the winds swinging to blow from the north east making for offshore conditions but there will still be a bump on the waves from the previous days onshore winds. Waves should be in the 3ft range as the swell direction changes from south in the morning to south east in the afternoon which could bring bigger sets.
South West
Garretstown is looking like it has a small direct swell coming in from the south west of around 2-3ft boosted by a secondary swell from the south swell of up to 5ft and a tertiary swell from the winds coming from the south east meaning three different swells coming into the beach meaning that there could be regular 2-3ft sets with bigger sets coming in from the other swells. Winds are cross shore on Saturday and 20-30mph meaning quite bumpy windy conditions with Sunday bringing a swing in the winds to offshore with a regular wind of 15mph gusting to nearly 30 so big sprays of offshore waves with 3-4ft waves from a southerly swell. Inch Beach in Kerry is showing some perfect offshore winds from the east making for nice winds, if a little gusty but you would hope with the land drag that these offshore winds might be a little lighter. Waves should be in the 3-4ft range with the chance of bigger waves in the morning on the 12 second period. This could also bring nice waves to the north side of the peninsula with size depending on angle to the west.
West Coast
Lahinch is looking like it could have a really nice weekend with offshore winds all weekend with some strong gusts but hopefully the land drag will slow these gusts down but they are offshore. Waves on Saturday should be in the 3-4ft range in the morning with 2-3ft for the remainder of the day with the possibility of a little bigger with the 11 second period giving a little more push to the waves. Sunday sees it drop back a little but should still be hitting the 2-3ft range depending on tides. Tides are high in the middle of the day around 12.30 but the difference between high and low being very little so it will be a slow moving tide meaning that you can probably surf right through the tide if you are out the back. If you are unsure of the ease of access or exit, leave 1-1.5 hours either side of high to allow for safe exit. On Sunday the high is before 2pm so leave 1-1.5 hours out of the water for safe access and exit.
North West
Strandhill is showing some nice small 2ft conditions for most of the day with the possibility of bigger sets in the morning and the lightest winds are first thing in the morning but they are offshore all day but gusting up to over 20mph later in the day so best to get on it earlier to make for nice clean waves. Sunday sees the swell jump a little with 3ft conditions forecast and light winds from the east bringing perfect light winds offshore all day. In the Bundoran area it should have really good Tullan Strand conditions with 2-3ft all day with moderate offshore winds gusting up to 20mph offshore all day. Sunday sees slight better 2-3ft conditions pushing more towards the 3ft range with light offshore winds gusting at times but hopefully land drag will slow these winds down but still offshore.
North Coast
There has been some run of swell on the north coast hitting fan-dabby-dosey at times for those who know Andy’s reports with some of the locals having great fun. Unfortunately the run drops back to normal 2ft conditions for Saturday and smaller for Sunday in the 1-2ft range with offshore winds for the likes of East and Whiterocks Saturday and probably best at West Strand on Sunday with the winds favouring there best but winds are light so if you are keen on Sunday it will be Foamie or longboard waves only.
Surf Safe and Enjoy,
Col,
Surf Improvers
Hi Col,
First, thank you for a great service provided.
I’m interested in surf forecasting, would like to learn more and wondering if you could share with me some of your methods/sources.
Personally, I look at surf forecast for wave energy calculation and windy for wave height/period comparison as well. I’ve tried looking at buoy data but seems to be limited in Ireland, especially for the East Coast as far as I can see?
If you have any recommendations I’d appreciate it.
Jason
Hi Jason, I use a few different applications including Surfline Pro Edition, Windy.TY, Ventusky (really good for winds and pressure charts), Surf forecast app but a lot of the knowledge comes down to what conditions will bring to the local locations from experience of surfing the spots. Wave energy is good for predicting the potential for waves but a lot of the time I just use the swell height and the push of the swell from the period to forecast. Hope that helps,
Col