Biggest Waves In, Like, Forever? – Notes From The Editor

What we prefer – sublime perfection and sunshine at Bruce’s Beauties

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Yesterday, the ocean was quite a sight. The gale-force easterly that had swept in over the weekend gave way to light offshore southwesterly, and the waves soon cleaned up in the bay.

Most eyes were on Bruce’s Beauties, but my gosh, it was huge. At lunchtime, the point was just a giant wash-through with unrideable waves smashing along it. A look out to sea revealed huge waves breaking on distant reefs and sand bars never really seen before, and there was actually nowhere to surf.

See also – Giant Waves At Port St Francis – Photos Of The Day

This doesn’t happen often, and the protected Bruce’s usually has a wave to ride, but not on this swell.

The charts described a six-meter straight easterly swell with 4,893kj of energy (www.surfline.com) —a strong swell.

What usually happens on a west or south-west swell is that the swell size drops quickly as it hits the outer reefs at Cape St Francis and Shark Point and downgrades fairly rapidly as it loses energy. It then still has to bend and refract around the points until it eventually finds its way down to Bruce’s, way smaller and less powerful.

With an easterly swell, all the energy marches in unhindered, and this is what happened yesterday.

There were a few takers who had a go near the port, a wave that doesn’t break very often, is more of a novelty wave than anything else, and is not a favourite of the Harbour Master. 

We can be lucky that this surf didn’t come with a spring tide, as there would definitely have been more severe damage. However, the waves were washing over the pathway east of the Port, and there probably was a bit of a wash away. Today, we will be able to see if there was anything serious.

For those wanting to get a quick surf, today looks way smaller on the charts (I can’t see yet; it’s still dark), but oh my gosh, golly, there is a fierce southwesterly wind on the way. It feels like we’re living in a wild place when it comes to the weather, but surfing in winter in the Eastern Cape is a tough old sport.