Ship Bottom surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 5am
4–5 ft · sets to 6
FairBest today 12–6pm
Swell lines up. Wind is the limiting factor.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 5am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell4.6 ft · 7 s · EMakes the wave: 89% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.6 ft · 9 s · ESecondary: 12% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind20 mph from the NECross-shore to a shoreline facing 121°Strong
- Tide-0.2 ft, fallingNext low -1.1 ft at 8:05am · NAVD88, NOAA 8534720 observed
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 8 ft of water
- Energy105 kJHeight² × period²Moderate
- Water65° · air 55° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best window12–6pm
Against what Ship Bottom likesWhy it is Fair, not Fair-Good
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 5amManasquan Inlet, Rockaway Beach 90th Street and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand bars
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand bars
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2018), relative to NAVD88. Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like thisTwo swells at once, the seafloor is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 5am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
Two swells at once
4.6 ft at 7s from the E carrying 89% of the energy, plus 1.6 ft at 9s from the E (12%).
The shorter, steeper train is carrying most of the energy here, so expect a choppier, less organised lineup than the longest period in the list would suggest on its own. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.89 · 88% of modelled rays break.
Energy arrives roughly as it left deep water: this bottom neither concentrates the swell nor fans it out, so what the buoy sees is close to what you get. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
-0.2 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 8 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Wind is cross-shore
20 mph from the NE, against a shoreline facing 121°.
Running across the face rather than into or against it. Less destructive than a straight onshore, but it puts a texture on the wall and can make the peak harder to read.
How Ship Bottom worksEighteen miles of barrier island facing straight into the…
Eighteen miles of barrier island facing straight into the Atlantic, and Ship Bottom sits in the middle of it. Bars shift each winter, so the peaks move, but the exposure is excellent and LBI picks up more swell than anywhere else in central New Jersey.
- Best tidelow to mid
- Best swellE–NE swell; hurricane season is the peak
- Suitsintermediate
2 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Ship Bottom
- What is the best tide for Ship Bottom?
- Ship Bottom works best on low to mid tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Ship Bottom?
- E–NE swell; hurricane season is the peak suits Ship Bottom best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Ship Bottom good for beginners?
- Ship Bottom suits intermediate surfers, over sand bars. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Ship Bottom?
- sand bars. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Ship Bottom on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.