Maldives late June forecast

surfari63's picture
surfari63 started the topic in Monday, 8 Jun 2015 at 4:58pm

Been watching comments and Maldive swell forecasts here and on other forums by Don and other forecasters over the years - seems the art is quite refined and am still trying to work out the methodology ! Am heading there soon - 21st June to 2nd July - hoping I can get some help with a forecast as the dates gets closer ? We have our options open with the choice, based on conditions, of staying north/south male atolls, cruising the central atolls or even heading to some lesser known far northern atolls. Any assistance greatly appreciated !

donweather's picture
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donweather Friday, 10 Jul 2015 at 1:10pm
samgreen wrote:

Can anyone tell me how that forecast relates more specifically to the Northern Atolls? No experience with the area but have heard that up north, while having plenty of perfect waves, needs a bit more swell to wrap in - which I'm fine with! Heading on a boat trip from this sunday (july 12) until the 24th. Most of our time is likely to be spent around the Northern Atolls (Jails, Sultans etc) with the possibility of going down to the central region. Thanks a bunch!

Forecast above is for exactly that....Northern Atolls, or as I refer to them as "North Male Atolls". However be aware that Jails/Sultans are not what I refer to as "south swell magnets" of the North Male Atolls. Centrals should see similar to Jails/Sultans from what I'm lead to believe provided the swell has sufficient SE direction in it. North Male Atolls won't see any of the SW/S groundswells I've mentioned above.

SW facing atolls of the Central Atolls will see the SW/S groundswells I'm lead to believe.

John F's picture
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John F Monday, 13 Jul 2015 at 9:41am

donweather & carpetman,
Sorry for another forecast but will be around the Laamu atoll from the 16th to the 26th July and was wondering if you could give me an idea of expected conditions around that time.
TIA

donweather's picture
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donweather Monday, 13 Jul 2015 at 6:30pm

Maldives North Male and Central Atolls Forecast
The SW/S swell wave heights below are questionable for the North Male Atolls, but I’ve included them in case you’re gonna chase some of the SW facing atolls of the Central Atolls (in my experience unless the SW/S swell is very southerly in direction and very high swell periods it just doesn’t get into the North Male Atolls). Conservatively, you can probably assume slighter smaller S/SE swell heights in the Central Atolls also, so I’d knock off say around 1ft from the forecasts below, particularly if the swell direction is more S/SE.

Mon 13th
4-5ft SE swell, building into the afternoon to solid 5-6ft with the odd 6ft+ set with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets. 3-4ft SW/S groundswell in the mix, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Tues 14th
Solid 5-6ft with the odd 6ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets. Waning 3-4ft SW/S groundswell in the mix, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets. Potentially new SW/S groundswell arriving late in the day. Slighter smaller around 2-3ft but more powerful.

Wed 15th
Solid 5-6ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets. Overlapping 2-3ft+ SW/S groundswell in the mix, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Thurs 16th
Slowly waning 4-5ft SE swell, with the odd 5ft+ set early morning still, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets. 2-3ft+ (building to possibly 3-4ft late afternoon) SW/S groundswell in the mix, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Fri 17th
Waning 3-4ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets early morning. Waning 2-3ft+ SW/S groundswell in the mix, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Sat 18th
Building 3-4ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets. 2-3ft SW/S groundswell in the mix, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Sun 19th
3-4ft SE swell, with a new similar sized 3-4ft+ S/SE swell arriving during the day, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets.

Mon 20th
Building 4-5ft S/SE swell with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets, particularly up in the North Male Atolls.

Tues 21st
Building 5-6ft S/SE swell with 6ft+ sets, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls during the late afternoon.

Wed 22nd
5-6ft S/SE swell with 6ft+ sets, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls.

Thurs 23rd
5-6ft S/SE swell with 6ft+ sets, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls.

Fri 24th
Slowly waning 5-6ft S/SE swell, with the upper end of this size range at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls.

Sat 25th
Slowly waning 4-5ft+ S/SE swell, with the upper end of this size range at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls. Building 2-3ft SW/S groundswell late in the day, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Sun 26th
4-5ft+ S/SE swell, with the upper end of this size range at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls. Building 3-4ft SW/S groundswell, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

Mon 27th
4-5ft+ S/SE swell, with the upper end of this size range at the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls. 3-4ft SW/S groundswell, possibly refracting (smaller) up into the North Male south swell magnets.

donweather's picture
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donweather Monday, 13 Jul 2015 at 6:31pm
John F wrote:

donweather & carpetman,
Sorry for another forecast but will be around the Laamu atoll from the 16th to the 26th July and was wondering if you could give me an idea of expected conditions around that time.
TIA

I don't have a lot of experience on the Laamu Atoll. Perhaps CM can shed some light on how this atoll fairs compared to the North Male Atolls. By the looks of the maps it will pick up SW/S groundswells also, but given the forecast, I'd be sticking to the S/SE swell magnets.

surfari63's picture
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surfari63 Tuesday, 14 Jul 2015 at 12:37pm

Laamu waves will prefer the SE swell, being predomonately on the east coast, down south there is a swell magnet wave that also will accept SW swell but even this wave works best with a hollow inside section on larger SE swells. As Don says, best to stick with SE swell magnets - looks like it will be cranking !
There are waves within striking distance of Laamu that prefer SW swell though most are wind dependant.

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John F Tuesday, 14 Jul 2015 at 12:43pm

Thanks for your input guys much appreciated. Looks like it might be OK. Will be nice not having to put the 4/3 on.

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cgrover Thursday, 16 Jul 2015 at 1:05pm

Thanks to donweather got back from the Maldives Northern Atolls on Monday and your forecast for the period July 4-11 was pretty much on the money. Your comment about the power of the waves waxing and waning at times was spot on. It was 3 ft pretty consistently with occasional smaller periods during some days due to the tides. There were also some periods where there were bigger waves (4 ft) at Chickens and Cokes as your forecast indicated. The winds although cross off most of the time, again as you predicted but we also had times of light winds and glassy conditions. Thanks again for your efforts - much appreciated.

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donweather Thursday, 16 Jul 2015 at 1:21pm

Thanks CG. Nice to receive some feedback. And yes those breaks you've discussed above are what I refer to as the south swell magnets of the North Male Atolls.

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donweather Thursday, 30 Jul 2015 at 8:26pm

Anyone heading to the east facing atolls of the Maldives in early - mid August is gonna score some impressive sustained large swell.

simba's picture
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simba Friday, 31 Jul 2015 at 12:44pm

Got a mate going around then Don so what size you talking around sultans etc?

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Craig Friday, 31 Jul 2015 at 1:03pm

Hmm, doesn't look anything too outstanding for me, just moderate persistent SE trade-swell.

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donweather Friday, 31 Jul 2015 at 1:41pm

I should put "large" into context. Large for the Maldives east facing atolls. 5-6ft+, more so from the second week of August onwards....again, with the emphasis on the sustained duration of this swell.

surfari63's picture
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surfari63 Friday, 31 Jul 2015 at 4:03pm

That high off the west australian coast just wants to sit there - this season the SE swell has been quite consistent. Any thoughts on the occurrence of stationary highs and what is happening in the Pacific with
El Nino? Or this this set up pretty normal ?

simba's picture
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simba Sunday, 2 Aug 2015 at 6:59pm

Don or craig,any thoughts from the 7th till 14th this month for maldives nth atolls,still as you said a few days ago?

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 2 Aug 2015 at 7:17pm

While we are asking about this ocean area whens the next forecast for Mentawai's, Telos, Nias region?

Im going next week for a month :D

donweather's picture
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donweather Sunday, 2 Aug 2015 at 7:50pm
simba wrote:

Don or craig,any thoughts from the 7th till 14th this month for maldives nth atolls,still as you said a few days ago?

Yep still looking very good. Partic from the 10th onwards. Currently Friday 14th is looking REAL GOOD!!!

simba's picture
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simba Monday, 3 Aug 2015 at 6:11am

Ill pass it on Don,thanks

donweather's picture
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donweather Monday, 3 Aug 2015 at 12:46pm
indo-dreaming wrote:

While we are asking about this ocean area whens the next forecast for Mentawai's, Telos, Nias region?

Im going next week for a month :D

Other than a moderate pulse around 11th/12th Aug, the Indian Ocean remains incredibly consistently small for this time of year!!!!

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Mr T Monday, 3 Aug 2015 at 10:32pm

A big shout out to "The Don" your forecast was spot on, we had a fair bit of weather alot of local storms with squally strong winds(made Cokes even hollower) and heavy rain, wind direction was west to north west , the swell went from 2 to3 ft on the 10 and 11 july then kicked in to 3 to 5ft and then 12th through to the 15th it was on 6ft + Cokes was ON! for two days chicken double overhead at times, we had a little drop back to 2 to 4ft then on the 18thjuly it picked back up to 6ft+ then back to 4 feet on the 19th
Due to local storms, and wind directions we surfed around Nth and Sth Male ,
hilights were a some ipec sessions at Cokes , Big Sultans on the 18th and a fast left down in Sth Male
All in all a great trip, the boyz at liquid did a great job in putting us onto the best waves going around the region
Thanks for your forecast the swells were diffidently coming from the South East direction from the 11th onwards , Id say around 11 to 13 sec period

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donweather Tuesday, 4 Aug 2015 at 6:42am

Cheers Mr T for the feedback. Greatly appreciated. Glad you scored and shame about the winds and weather but it is the wet season in the Maldives this time of year.

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donweather Tuesday, 4 Aug 2015 at 12:45pm

Again, anyone heading to the Maldives for the next two weeks+, particularly from the 10th August onwards is going to score some epic swell at the SE facing breaks.....I'd be guessing at least 6ft+, if not bigger sets.

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Craig Tuesday, 4 Aug 2015 at 2:14pm

Looking at the swell now for the week of the 10th onwards, that's serious!

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donweather Tuesday, 4 Aug 2015 at 8:39pm

Yup. The sustained size is impressive too!!!

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carpetman Monday, 10 Aug 2015 at 10:14am

Looking sweet!

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Barndog Sunday, 16 Aug 2015 at 9:06pm

Hi Don,
Any chance we could get a forecast for Central atolls late august - first week of September?
Getting pumped now!
Thanks!

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wellymon Saturday, 15 Aug 2015 at 10:27pm

Dom!
Dominic!
Dominica!
Dominal!
Domination.....

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donweather Tuesday, 1 Sep 2015 at 10:26pm
Barndog wrote:

Hi Don,
Any chance we could get a forecast for Central atolls late august - first week of September?
Getting pumped now!
Thanks!

Sorry bd. Only just saw this now as I've been on my own annual overseas surfari the last two weeks.

Hope you're getting some waves and low crowds in the Central Atolls.