Senoritas • Statistics for April

April: Maximum Power, Squeezed by the Wind

April brings the biggest average wave period of the year at 13.6 seconds and pushes average heights to 1.7m (5-6ft). The swell direction is almost unbelievably consistent: SSW delivers 92 percent of all wave energy, with a huge 55 percent of observations in the 1.5-2m (5-7ft) range and another 16 percent in the 2-2.5m (7-8ft) class. This is serious, groundswell-charged surf at an exposed WSW-facing beach. But the wind stats are moving in the opposite direction: ideal offshore wind drops back to 7 percent, while S and SSW winds combine for nearly 60 percent of the observations. The result is a month of extraordinary swell potential that is often held down by a bumpy windblown surface. The key is to watch for low-pressure systems passing to the south, which can briefly back the flow to the E/NE and open the door to world-class sessions. Water temperature cools slightly to 17.5°C (63°F), precipitation is virtually zero, and the autumn air is crisp and clean.