A strong storm from the southwest, or the unusual southeast, is needed to push waves into the Bay. Such storms are almost always accompanied by offshore southwest winds. The harder the wind blows, the bigger it gets.
SuperTubes: a powerful wall, drawing larger swell energy from the upper reefs and funneling it for around 200 yards, letting the skilled surfer dictate the terms of a ride without ever seeming weak or unchallenging.The wave is best in the 4 – 8 ft category.
J-Bay is a very long pointbreak (about 1-1.5km), on flat-lying slate (not volcanic rock as most guides say), that can be divided into several sections:
Boneyards: basically the very top of the point. Breaks very hard and fast way out the back on bigger swells, and hopefully you link up with Supers. It's a heavier wave than Supers.
Supertubes: the main event at J-Bay, sand over rock. Long-walled, fast, perfect, hollow waves, with barrels possible all the way along, but more often towards the end. The wave tends to 'slide' along the point, dissipating the whitewash for easier duck dives and focusing the energy on the breaking wave. The wall seems to keep coming up at you faster than you expect. The tubes usually need to be ridden high in the pocket. Sets can break wide on bigger days. When it's really big, the wave has been known to link up all the way to the town beach, through several sections, for a ride of about 1-1.3km+, but on a decent 6 foot+ day the waves are usually about 400m+ long. Tales of 4 or 5 minute rides are exagerated, to get all the way to the end of the long point (which is very rare) is about a 2 minute+ ride, and it needs to be 10 foot+. 'Supers' is definitely one of the best points in the world.
Salad Bowls and Tubes: there are several sections between the main wave at 'Supertubes' and 'the Point' further down, which work during different tides and swells. Tubes is a barrel that works on medium size swells about 600m+ down from the top of Supertubes.
The Point: fat, slow moving wave, that wraps into a little cove at the end of the long point, for about 150m. Holds some size, but doesn't have the barrels or the class of Supers.
Albatross: inconsistent final section on sand over reef, way down in front of the beach and across from 'the Point'. Needs bigger swells, and apparently gets good.
