PPB swell - please explain

[Matt490]

Gents,

Headed out this morning. Wind was quite low but the swell was bigger than expected.

Can anyone help a newby understand why this is?
Should I be checking swell readings at the mouth of the bay for an indicator?

Any guidance would be awesome!

[Wolly Bugger]

Gents,

Headed out this morning. Wind was quite low but the swell was bigger than expected.

Can anyone help a newby understand why this is?
Should I be checking swell readings at the mouth of the bay for an indicator?

Any guidance would be awesome!

I assume you head out into bass straight through PPB heads.

Swell and waves are two different things.

https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-differe ... nd-a-swell

According to the readings the swell is less than a metre once outside the heads.

Or are you talking about going through the heads?

[Tim399]

If your referring to the general swell inside port Phillip bay this is my understanding of how it works. The wind can start small ripples on the surface over a short distance, but as the distance gets larger the wind can cause those ripples to get bigger (turn into chop) or even end up as swell if the wind is strong enough and distance is long enough. It takes some time for the swell to die down even after the wind stops or changes direction. Eg. if the wind was a strong westerly last night and died down at 4am, with no wind at mornington at 8am those swells will still be making their way across the bay until they run out of energy and die down. Hope this helps

[laneends]

That "bay swell" can be produced by conditions further out in the bay and often sometime earlier, even if local wind is minimal. So if there is a gentle onshore breeze but been blowing badly out in the middle it can be surprisingly bumpy. If you then get a localised wide blowing in a different direction to the residual "swell" then you get really sloppy conditions.

Its not the same as an ocean swell with wide spacing, but it is a similar effect and a product of the fetch (distance travelled)

Hence it helps to look at state weather maps and not just the table for your particular location.

[cobby]

Previous days wind/boat activity/shipping/whatever else.

Picture a large soup bowl with half set jelly. Wobble the jelly and it takes forever to stop. That is ppb as there's next to no tidal influence to reduce surface disturbance

[smile0784]

I still dont inderstand any of that

[williwonder]

I headed out of Willi today and the swell was bigger than I thought it would be as well.

Fishn was crappier than I expected as well,

[Mattblack]

I was loading the boat up at 3.30am yesterday & not a breath of wind,by the time I got to the ramp there was a strong southerly and people were throwing in the towel. Should have done the same thing...Really bumpy ride into Williamstown & couldn't anchor because the nose of the boat kept going under. ....didnt calm down until about 7am & made it a really uncomfortable morning. Bit of stuff showed up on the sounder, but nothing was hungry.
General rule of thumb....dont go out at the north end of the bay if the wind is a southerly.

[smile0784]

Yep not worth it

[Wolly Bugger]

Gents,

Headed out this morning. Wind was quite low but the swell was bigger than expected.

Can anyone help a newby understand why this is?
Should I be checking swell readings at the mouth of the bay for an indicator?

Any guidance would be awesome!

Has your question been answered?