Lahinch Swell Window
County Clare, Ireland · part of the Lahinch spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 210°–330° (SSW–NNW)
- Best direction
- ~270° (W)
- Period sweet spot
- 10–16 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–13 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.
The window runs from southwest through west to northwest, with due west the optimum matching the beach’s aspect. Southwest arrives a little obliquely but still lights the sand and feeds the Cornish Left; northwest gets some shelter and refraction from the northern headland. Groundswell of 10-to-16 seconds gives the cleanest, most organised waves; short-period windswell is common and rideable but weaker.
Face height is roughly the open-ocean height at the beach for mid-size groundswell, but here tide state and sandbank shape swing the rideable face more than raw height does. A four-metre offshore reading does not mean a four-metre face — much energy is lost and reformed across the bar.