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Swell tracking maps and the North Shore.
Have a look at the below swell tracking maps for the North Shore. You might be thinking, after seeing 10-11' of swell, that it's going to pump right?
Continued below...
Unfortunately, probably not, at least on the north shore. While 10-11 feet of deepwater swell is a good thing, in this case it represents a short period (the 't' column represents swell period at 9 seconds) easterly trade swell ('d' is for direction, 90 degrees is from the east). So with the easterly direction and short period the swell won't have much of a chance to shoal, refract and become much more than mediocre head high waves for best north shore breaks. What we're really looking for is a long period (15 seconds or greater), W to NW swell to get the North Shore cranking. Keep that in mind the next time you're looking at the swell tracking maps and want to book a ticket, drive in from town, plan to watch the Pipe cam from work, etc.

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