Swell not much to ride home about

Surfers hoping for an end to a week of flat surf should probably look further afield, as a long-awaited swell caused by a Pacific Northwest storm will mostly fail to reach local shores.

The National Weather Service has a high-surf advisory for Orange County starting at 2 a.m. today, and agency forecaster Brad Doyle said that some regions in the county could expect waves of 6 to 10 feet, with maximum sets of 12 feet Saturday night. He also said Orange County’s coast should expect light to medium rain today, with expected rainfall ranging from one-tenth to a half an inch.

Yet, Surfline forecaster Kevin Wallace said swells in the area are very focused and will only cause high waves in a few places, like Huntington Cliffs and Bolsa Chica. He said that since the biggest swell is coming from the northwest, it will mostly be blocked by the Palos Verdes Peninsula and islands like Catalina. On the other hand, a more westerly swell from a separate storm will hit shores today, producing head-high waves even in more protected regions like Newport Beach. The swells will start to die off throughout Sunday, he said.

Newport Beach lifeguards are not too worried about conditions this weekend.

Capt. Boyd Mickley said they were paying attention to conditions on an hour-by-hour basis, but at this point he was not concerned, since reports of a large swell wouldn’t be a reality for his area.

“Not much of it is going to make it to Newport Beach because we’re in the shadow of everything in Southern California,” he said. “I’m sure the surfers watching it are going to be interested, but if they have any experience with Newport, they’re going to go somewhere else.”