Official World Surf League forecasting partner seeks to recover from disastrous Cloudbreak call ahead of Lexus Finals Day

"There are no major changes on swell timing and size from our previous update."

The World Surf League finals day is but hours away and, according to Surfline, set to run on the opening day of the waiting period. “There are no major changes on swell timing and size from our previous update. This continues to look like the largest swell of the event window. The storm behaved very close to model guidance and subsequent satellite passes through the swell as it propagated away from the storm have also been close to expectations,” lead forecaster Kevin Wallis has declared though, likely, not confidentally.

The “official forecasting partner” of the “global home of surfing” came under much fire in Fiji as the wave calculation was badly muffed. One day deemed “the best” devolved into windy slop while the following day, not noted at all, delivered gems. JP Currie wrote at the time, “Jonathan Warren gazed into the middle distance, wondering why everyone kept asking him about weather and when he could get back to playing Pokemon Go in peace.”

Jonathan Warren being Surfline’s South Pacific’s swell finding expert.

And, so, Italo Ferreira, Ethan Ewing, Jack Robinson, Griffin Colapinto and John John Florence will gingerly step across Lower Trestles cobbled stone into “the peak of the SSW swell with surf in the shoulder-head high range at Lowers. The largest sets of the day should run slightly overhead.”

Tatiana Weston-Webb, Molly Picklum, Brisa Hennessy, Caroline Marks and Caitlin Simmers will gingerly step the same for the women.

Do you believe in the “shoulder-head high range” call or does that feel… optimistic?

If the Cloudbreak Blooper holds, though, we may see pumping surf on Sept. 7th.

Exciting.