Maces Bay
| Class: NA | Length: NA |
| Location: Maces Bay | Character: Surf beach |
| Gauge: Surf Forecast | Contributor: Frank Postma |
General Description
Maces Bay … funky play spot. Can be very challenging. Reason for this is the angle of the wave(s) to be surfed. The flood coming in under a causeway hits a rocky ledge that turns the water to the right into a wave train. The right hand turn results in the waves being at an angle to the main flow resulting in a kind of corkscrew effect to the left. Give just a little too much bow and you are either over or bombing downstream. Down side is the limited amount of playtime. At the lower tidal ranges the flow turns 3 to 3 hours & 15 minutes after low tide. At the higher tidal ranges it’s sometimes 3 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes after low tide the flow direction changes. Then roughly 2 hours of play follow. Another down side is that at the larger tidal ranges larger waves form in the race. These waves are quite steep and the troughs small from a peak to peak sense and so difficult for long boats to surf. The larger tidal ranges give WW kayaks more playtime. Also not uncommon is that the first hour is playable for sea kayaks, then a 1/2 hour not som much and then the last 1/2 improves. In general a very safe spot. Once experienced some debris floating in after an easterly storm.