Swellie Wave

[Kaskazi]

Hey,
I have been struggling to catch swellie wave in the menai straits. I know it only works on the flood, and where it should be, but the few times I have surfed it have been down to lucky opportunity more than planning. Most of the time I paddle through and there is nothing worth trying.
About what time of tide should it work?

[DaveB]

viewtopic.php?t=4371

[PSK]

Aah, that would be telling...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6znQPV-Cgb8

Contact me via PSK website if you would like some details.

JW

[rockhopper]

Nice video mate....!
my daughter tells me the music is from Bondi Rescue (she only watches it for the hunky blokes apparently!!).

Rog.

[goatboy]

Check the tide tables & choose your day. It needs to be at least 9.6 at Liverpool for the wave to be worthwhile.

G.B.

[LucyLou19]

Do you mean HTH or swellies wave? Swellies wave worked on a low tide of 0.7 or below, HTH of a high tide of 9.6 or above, around 45 mins- 1 hour before HT at liverpool alfred dock to around 30 minutes after HT

[norb]

In last 3 months Im everyday on Menai.
I think 9m at Liverpool is good to start with.
I was yesterday surfing by cardinal on flood and HW Liv was Only 9.5 m :) and was really good fun.
I dont realise they have fast mowing water in Yorkshire
Norbert

[goatboy]

Norbert - I assume the Yorkshire comment was directed at me? If so, I don't really understand the animosity.

It's true that I'm currently based in Yorkshire. People who know me also know that I'm from that area & spent 11 years living around 15 minutes walk / paddle from the Strait; I was simply trying to be helpful.

I'm happy for you that you're having fun on it on smaller tides -- it's true that the wave has changed over the years (not for the better, unfortunately) so it may well now work on a wider range of tides. I also used to use short / low volume boats on it, so am perhaps being fussy about what counts as surfable!

G.B.

[norb]

Anything above 8.5 m HW Liv is surfable
9.00 m is really good
9.5 its big size
10 m is powerful and challenge
Norbert

[Bazza S]

Hi Kaskazi, you have a good start by knowing the Swellies wave works on the flood and knowing where to find it. To find it working well enough to play on the wave it may be a good idea to get there either very early morning or early evening. How big or steep you want it to be working may depend on whether you are paddling a sea kayak or a smaller play boat. It may also depend on how comfortable you feel on that sort of feature. Quite a few play boaters go there and seem happy on one of the bigger tides such as the size the Goatboy mentions although for a sea kayak it doesn't need to be at least 9.6metres at Liverpool, it can be much less. How it works ie the speed and steepness of the wave seems to change from year to year, I'm not sure why. Some people tell me it's to do with the amount of kelp but they're only guessing. So a 10 metre tide 3 years ago created a much friendlier sea kayak wave than a 10 metre tide last year.
As a rough guide it may be helpful for you to turn up at the Swellies cardinal marker around low water slack in the Swellies on something like a 9 metre tide Liverpool and sit there to see how it works for you. That may give you a start point to work from and build it up from there. Once it's running you will probably find it can flatten out for several minutes and just when you think it's already finished it can build up again quite steeply. It seems to surge every 5 minutes or so.
Lucylou mentioned HTH which I'm guessing she means high tide hole which isn't in the Swellies and doesn't work on the flood, unless it's a different place to where I'm thinking of.
I hope this helps you.
Barry