Chicama Swell Window
La Libertad, Peru · part of the Chicama spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 200°–290° (SSW–WNW)
- Best direction
- ~235° (SW)
- Period sweet spot
- 14–18 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 5–12 ft
- Resulting faces
- 2–8 ft
Open-ocean vs. the face: the heights on buoys and forecast models are significant wave height (Hs) in deep water. What you ride is the breaking face, which depends on period, direction and this break's bathymetry — that's why the two rows above differ. PierMonkey's spot ratings already do this conversion for you.
To wrap the northwest headland and line up with the bay, the energy must come from the south through west-southwest — a practical window of about 200° to 290°, with the productive core and sweet spot around 220–250°. Period is everything: 14 to 18 seconds is optimal, because only long-period energy survives the wrap with enough push to link the sections; short-period windswell dies in the refraction.
The through-line is that the face is roughly half the open-ocean reading or less. A 5-to-7-foot open-ocean swell makes a fun 3-to-4-foot face on the point; even the rare point-to-pier days ride at maybe 6 to 8 ft while the open-ocean swell that made them is far bigger. Chicama trades size for length — an endless ride, much smaller than offshore.