Recent King Tide question - Weatherzone Forums

#246771 - 1/02/2009 20:01 Recent King Tide question
DamianTheOmen Member Registered: 31/12/2006 Loc: East Brighton	On Monday the 12th of jan 2009 we had a 2m king tide, a number of years ago I sat as a youngster on a beach in port phillip bay Melbourne waiting for the cool change and accompaying SW winds so that I could surf. It was hot and there was no sign of the change coming but suddlenly swell popped up out of no where and there was small 1.5-2ft waves breaking for a 30min period - perfectly with an "offshore" wind, not the normal SW wind. My question is this - when there is a substantial difference between high and low tide ie- king tide would this produce the waves that I surfed that day and how would one be able to predict this I would really appreciate some imput on this as I struggle to get down the coast now with kids and work commitments but can sneak out for a quick baywave without much drama cheers in advance Damo
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#246772 - 9/02/2009 21:25 Re: Recent King Tide question
ozthunder Weatherzone Addict Registered: 23/09/2001 Loc: Mt Warrigal, NSW, Australia	My best guess is that a SW wind was blowing at the other end of the bay. If wind waves are running against the tidal direction the resistance will make them higher. I once surfed a local beach here in Shellharbour, it was a lovely 3ft and offshore, and just like you experienced it jumped, in my case to a consistent 4-5ft set after set. 30 mins later a howling SE change came through. I also surfed a beach at Yamba back in 1970 something and the surf over 3 hours jumped from 4-5ft to 6-8ft then finally to big, but the culprit was an intense ECL spinning up offshore, still I'm 52 and have not seen surf build so quick since. _________________________ Michael Thompson http://ozthunder.com
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#246773 - 2/09/2009 22:34 Re: Recent King Tide question
Sir BoabTree Meteorological Motor Mouth Registered: 7/02/2007 Loc: Townsville Dry Tropics	From out of the depths of my old surfing memories of 30 years ago we used to say that 40 minutes either side of a major tide change can have the same effect. Up here where we only get surf in a cat 2 or higher cyclone you can still see the change when out fishing on the reef. _________________________ Rain YTD 1235mm May 1mm Teh WZ Spullin Knig - Dyslexics Untie Just because you are offended by something I post doesn't always make you right.
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