Ribeira d'Ilhas Swell Window
Ericeira, Portugal · part of the Ribeira d'Ilhas spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 220°–330° (SW–NNW)
- Best direction
- ~285° (WNW)
- Period sweet spot
- 9–14 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–11 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 north-northwest, matching the west-facing point, with west to northwest around 270–300° the optimum that wraps cleanest into the long right. Period of 9 seconds and up turns a mediocre-height day into a lined-up point wall; clean mid-period groundswell of 11-to-14 seconds gives the longest, best-organised walls, while short windswell is weaker and shorter.
Model height and face are distinct: the point refraction spreads energy along the wall, so a two-metre west-northwest groundswell rides as a long overhead face rather than a single two-metre peak.