Thurso East Swell Window
Scotland, United Kingdom · part of the Thurso East spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 320°–80° (NW–E)
- Best direction
- ~330° (NNW)
- Period sweet spot
- 10–14 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–12 ft
- Resulting faces
- 3–12 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 wraps through north — from northwest through north to the northeast and east edge — with the core productive band northwest to north. West-northwest gives the hollowest barrels, straight north is mellower but still quality, and the wave needs genuine north content to refract onto the reef. Period of 10 seconds and up works, with 12-to-15-second groundswell producing the best-organised, most powerful barrels.
Because north and northwest swell wraps and jacks over the shallow flagstone, the breaking face can equal or exceed the open-ocean height on a clean day — do not assume the face is smaller here. Read the alert threshold as open-ocean height.