Sebastian Inlet Swell Window
Florida, USA · part of the Sebastian Inlet spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 30°–170° (NNE–S)
- Best direction
- ~55° (NE)
- Period sweet spot
- 8–13 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 1–8 ft
- Resulting faces
- 1–8 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.
The window is open to the Atlantic from north-northeast through east to south-southeast, with northeast-to-east-northeast funneling most cleanly into the north-jetty wedge and the sandbars; straight east works, and a southeast hurricane swell favours the outer bank and Monster Hole. The wedge organises on a modest 8-to-13-second period, and long-period tropical or nor’easter groundswell is when First Peak and especially Monster Hole light up.
The jetty amplification is the defining feature — it adds punch and can bump the face a few feet above what open-beach bars produce for the same swell. Read the height as open-ocean, not the breaking face.