What is the best tide for First Street Jetty?

First Street Jetty works best on 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 First Street Jetty?

E–NE swell; hurricane swell is the season suits First Street Jetty 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 First Street Jetty good for beginners?

First Street Jetty suits intermediate surfers, over sand against the jetty. 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 First Street Jetty?

sand against the jetty. 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 First Street Jetty on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.

First Street Jetty surf report and forecast

BeachbreakVirginia Beach, VAForecast 3:46am

Forecast for the selected hour

Now · 5am

7–9 ft · sets to 12

Fair-GoodBest today 7–11am

Swell lines up. Wind is the limiting factor.

3-hourlyGlobal model6-hourly

Hour by hour · TodaySunrise 7:14 · tap an hour

SurfftWindmphTideftSwells · from

BestAlso

sunrise 7:14sunset 6:23

Model, not a camera ·Today 5am EDT

Open on the map

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

Swell9.1 ft · 8 s · NEMakes the wave: 100% of the energy. Direction at the break.
Wind28 mph from the NNECross-shore to a shoreline facing 89°Gale
Tide-0.4 ft, fallingNext low -0.9 ft at 7:04am · NAVD88, NOAA 8651370 observed
BreakerPlungingBreaks in about 14 ft of water
Energy513 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
Water69° · air 53° · UV 0

High confidence.

Best window7–11am · also 11am–7pm

Against what First Street Jetty likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not 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 5amJennette's Pier, S-Turns and 3 more

Compare on the map

The break

The seafloorSand against the jetty

Loading the seafloor under First Street Jetty…

Open the seafloor on the map

Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.

Bottomsand against the jetty
DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2019), 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 thisOne swell, uncrossed, 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.

One swell, uncrossed
9.1 ft at 8s from the NE and nothing significant crossing it.
A single train is the cleanest case there is: the sets arrive from one angle, so the peak should sit in the same place each time instead of wandering. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.88 · 84% 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
-0.4 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 14 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
28 mph from the NNE, against a shoreline facing 89°.
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 First Street Jetty worksThe jetty at the south end of the boardwalk holds the best sand…

The jetty at the south end of the boardwalk holds the best sand in Virginia Beach and hosts the East Coast Surfing Championship. The Chesapeake Bay mouth and the barrier islands filter a lot of swell, so it needs a real east pulse — but when a hurricane sits offshore it is one of the best waves in the Mid-Atlantic.

Best tidemid
Best swellE–NE swell; hurricane swell is the season
Suitsintermediate

1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated

Common questions4 questions about First Street Jetty

What is the best tide for First Street Jetty?: First Street Jetty works best on 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 First Street Jetty?: E–NE swell; hurricane swell is the season suits First Street Jetty 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 First Street Jetty good for beginners?: First Street Jetty suits intermediate surfers, over sand against the jetty. 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 First Street Jetty?: sand against the jetty. 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 First Street Jetty on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.