Solid Swell Rolling Past Exmouth, North to Indo

wellymon's picture
wellymon started the topic in Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 11:13am

5m at 17.4 secs and big fat thick looking swell, marching its way to Indo.
Been at work for 2 weeks 30km off the North West Cape on a,FPSO (Nganhurra).
Yesterday afternoon swell bumped up pretty quick from lunchtime onwards, had to have heading control on all night so got a pretty good sleep. Woke this morning to solid 5m swell as far as the eye could see, pretty frustrating, but it brought a smile to my face knowing someone will be scoring waves when they make land fall.
Got to laugh a little as the people going home get all excited, but got shot down pretty fast this morning, due to the roll and heave parameters of the helicopter landings on board the FPSO.

The last 2 weeks Ive probably seen about 50-60 whales and their calves cruise past the facility. What a magnificent sight looking down on these mammals through the clear water, effortlessly making their way North as well.
I remember about a week or so ago a chap had a thread "Along Way Out", well SN got that swell down pack, nice forecasting.

udo's picture
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udo Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 11:23am

just checked your position on the nganhurra live map, nice vessel and fairly new. can you take some pics of the corduroy lines that are heading north and post them.

wellymon's picture
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wellymon Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 11:30am

Will try udo, I need a permit first, abit of wind on it at the mo but big and chunky, will wait for this arvo,
Not sure how to post photos udo?...

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udo Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 11:33am

posting pics, fuck beyond me......swellnet team help.

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 11:37am

Thanks for the update Welly, yeah that forecast was in response to Sarge who wanted to know what early Sept was doing, and with the Long Wave Trough doing it;s thing it was pretty easy to tell even 2 weeks out that some large swell would be hitting WA and Indo.

RE photos, sign up to photobucket or flickr and put the photos on there, then paste the link in here after pressing that computer screen button and they should come up.

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Craig Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 11:40am

Oh and the South Oz Mid Coast which is south of Adelaide, shadowed by Kangaroo from the bulk of Southern Ocean swell is showing some crazy size today.

Solid 3-4ft lines pushing into the gulf with light offshore winds. This is a 10/10 day and the most places around the rest of the state are too big! An amazing swell!

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thermalben's picture
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thermalben Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 12:24pm

Great stuff wellymon - love hearing these kinds of first hand reports! Keep 'em coming.

udo's picture
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udo Monday, 2 Sep 2013 at 6:11pm

hey welly its 4pm there now ...is that wind easing and those long lines of swell building any ? sneak a message in a bottle over the side interesting to know where it ends up.

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wellymon Tuesday, 3 Sep 2013 at 11:31am

Yeah udo, comms shat it self yesterday, Swell has eased a little but still the odd solid ones sneaking past, yesterday was moderate SWW winds all day and pretty chunky long period swell, We've had 11m heave (vertical rise and fall) on the vessel Sunday night early Monday, Capr North West bouy recorded a max of 9m swell during that period, averaged around 5m, so no flying taxis's for the fellas's.
At the moment just went and saw the captain , got some info of him, 3.9m and rising swell with 17knot SSE winds.
Its great talking with the captain and making him aware of yourself being interested, they go all out to explain various information with such resolve.

udo's picture
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udo Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 9:21am

just under 48 hours to the java coast, that's a good exercise for the captain to work out?

fitzroy-21's picture
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fitzroy-21 Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 9:33am

Hey Welly, for cyclone swells in the Coral Sea, I used to go by 400nm per 24hr period. Usually pretty acurate.

Craig, Don or Ben would probably have more precise stats though.

thermalben's picture
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thermalben Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 9:45am

Depends on the swell period fitzroy-21. Simple calculation is swell period (in seconds) x 1.5 x 1.85 gives the forward speed in km/hr.

fitzroy-21's picture
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fitzroy-21 Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 9:56am

So for a 14sec period, about 480nm per 24hrs. Close!!

Thanks for those calcs Ben.

wellymon's picture
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wellymon Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 10:56am

Interesting, Cheers for the informative answers fellas.

donweather's picture
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donweather Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 1:27pm

Yep, as Ben has said, however noting that this is the travel speed of the wave group travelling in deep water, as opposed to the travel speed of an individual wave approaching the beach.

fitzroy-21's picture
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fitzroy-21 Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 2:03pm

Yeah Don, I used that (400nm/24hr) as a rule of thumb for when one formed in the Coral Sea to determine its aprox timing of hitting certain reefs or the coast. Good to know that calc for a more accurate timing.

Cheers, Fitzy

udo's picture
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udo Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 2:15pm

@welly are there any other surfers on the vessel, makes for a long hitch watching swell lines march past knowing where there heading to.

wellymon's picture
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wellymon Thursday, 19 Sep 2013 at 2:52pm

Cheers Don, the last time I watched the 5m swell run past us out here a few weeks back, was pretty amazing.
Been out here on and off for a few years but that swell was so thick and really wide, its different being 30kms out to sea, watching the swell roll past with such volume of water, height/depth and actual width of the swell. It would be pretty terrifying on a yacht down the southern ocean with those massive southern ocean swells, you would feel like a little cork bobbing around in the middle of nowhere.
@Udo, theres a few boys out here that surf, mainly down from Margret River and South of Perth, One bloke has property in Margs and Torquay so hes just spent the last 2 months down Vic scoring great waves from that constant LWT.
Yeah 3 weeks gets to me alittle out here, but everyone is in the same boat and are all good people with the same motive , to go home in one piece and share a good safety culture. I take it as my health camp, no beer and those horrible cigs for 3 weeks and a lot fitter when I get on dry land again. :)
Peace

groundswell's picture
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groundswell Friday, 20 Sep 2013 at 2:18am

Good to hear those reports Wellymon good thread.

wellymon's picture
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wellymon Tuesday, 24 Sep 2013 at 8:12pm

Here we go again, lucky surfers up Indo or even down Gnarloo, Red Bluff way, I suppose...?
Yesterday lunch alittle size started to consistently push thru out here, but the main push has been this afternoon with a nice solid swell developing 3.6m @ 14.8 sec period, been constant WSW 20 knot wind for the last few days.
Look like its getting bigger for sure.

udo's picture
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udo Tuesday, 24 Sep 2013 at 9:07pm

@ welly - last swell nias on vimeo -footage of a solid sept swell

Craig's picture
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Craig Tuesday, 24 Sep 2013 at 10:11pm

Yep, been non stop over there the last 2 months! Gotta saw Margs surfers would have to surely be over this extended period of large swells and onshore winds.

Surfers further north and out of the wind would be loving it, and those with mid-late season Indo trips, scoring!

groundswell's picture
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groundswell Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 3:03am

got a few vids and pics of supersuck between 2-6 ft a couple bigger will try to share. i thought it would get bigger but that joint is a sleeping beauty. Will try to post.

By the way i think swells were not west enough.,more west swells = longer harder to make and heavier barrels. too south and its only a few 3-6 second tubes and doesnt link up so well..have several short tubes rather than one 10-20 sec on a good day at right time.

also as the reef is flatish table top coral with a few coral heads here and there, its best surfed at one certain point of the tide. too high, not many pits, too low and drop is insane with the coral knobs stick out in front of you and speeds up the barrel with cuts and lost fins likely. time it right. unlike desert that and other waves sometimes that EPIC sesh only lasts for one good set, when theres only 3-10 of them you might not get one, hard on you after waiting thru flatness for a month or more.

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groundswell Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 4:04am
groundswell's picture
groundswell's picture
groundswell Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 4:06am

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groundswell's picture
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groundswell Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 4:17am

the vids are pretty sick will try to bring more, the vids only around 3-4ft though, not real long for suck but pretty good...

All photos and vids by local friend Iponk. Trusty guy,if you can, pay him to take photos of you ..help out if you can . Coolest guy in town.Looks after all the local kids and visitors.Image

wellymon's picture
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wellymon Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 7:14am

What one is you GS.
I hope its not the bloke with the designer shorts.

Nice photos champ.

groundswell's picture
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groundswell Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 8:32am

None of me i kooked it this year and didnt make it..with bad investments and sickness...and drinking etc..Those designer shorts could be the new thing, ladies would love em for sure and the tats...
Will post a few vids once ive put them into mp4.

mitchvg's picture
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mitchvg Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 8:46am

Got a mate at Lakey's who copped a 10ft set on the head last week

groundswell's picture
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groundswell Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 at 9:40am

Heres a few vids, bad quality with compression to mp4, maybe right click and open new tab will work best.

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Local kid not sure if its the 15 year old from banko banko or a kid from Sumbawa Maluk.
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wellymon's picture
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wellymon Saturday, 12 Jul 2014 at 10:59pm

Must be a good time of the year for the great ones to pass by.
Easily 40-50 everyday, the last 6 days, some come close and dive under the boat, others are a few kilometers away. They seem to come in waves and lots of them, they must swim by during the night all night. Thats a few whales...?
Awesome to watch :)