Praia da Joaquina Swell Window
Santa Catarina, Brazil · part of the Praia da Joaquina spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 60°–190° (ENE–S)
- Best direction
- ~135° (SE)
- Period sweet spot
- 9–16 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–10 ft
- Resulting faces
- 2–10 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.
Facing east-southeast, Joaquina picks up any pulse from south to east, favoring the southeast around 135°; east was the classic 1986 contest angle, and a straight south catches some headland shadow. Period runs 10 to 16 seconds for the point-left and 8 to 11 for the banks, and a south wind is onshore and the day-killer.
The open-ocean height converts to a face of roughly the same order — it holds cleanly to about 3 m (10 ft) and goes double-overhead on cyclone days, while under about 3 ft it is small and friendly.