Almanarre Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's cookin' for the month ahead in this neck of the woods.

Honestly, folks, we are looking at a pretty flat and bleak run ahead. Straight off the bat, there's no surf on offer for the first few days, and it stays that way for a while. The first week is a write-off, and I'd say we're looking at a gap of nearly two weeks before anything even sniffs like a proper wave. The forecasts can change, but this stretch looks like a long, dry spell.

The only break on the cards is Almanarre, and it's exposed to a South-West swell, but we just aren't seeing it. The water is a touch warmer than normal for the time of year, sitting at 76°, but that's the only highlight.

For the first few days, from the 29th of August right through the start of September, it’s all wind and no grunt. You’ve got onshore winds and tiny little dribbles of swell with hardly any energy (combined energy readings in the 40s and down to single digits). It’s just plain poor. That early morning on the 1st of September sees a light offshore breeze from the East, but there’s only 2 ft of weak, 4-second windswell. Not worth paddling out for.

We get a slight uptick around Thursday the 3rd of September. The morning shows a 4 ft swell from the WNW with a 6-second period – not great, but the combined energy jumps to 143 (moderate). The wind is light and cross-shore, so it might be clean but it’s still a short-period wave. By the afternoon the wind swings onshore again, so that burst fades fast.

The rest of the first week and the start of the second is more of the same: small, weak, and mostly blown out. There's a morning on the 5th of September that goes glassy with an easterly breeze, but the swell is so small it’s a non-event (0 energy). The 6th of September has a clean offshore breeze from the East all day, but again, with no swell height recorded and zero energy, it’s just a flat, clean lake.

The best of a bad bunch – and I use that term loosely – looks like it might be the morning of Thursday the 10th of September. It's an outlier and a long shot. We have a light cross-offshore breeze from the ESE, which is clean, but you're looking at a pathetic 0.7 ft swell from the West with a 4-second period and almost no energy (combined energy of 3). For an absolute beginner on a foamie, you might get a tiny ripple, but it’s not surf.

The straight truth is, there’s nothing to recommend. The whole 16-day window is a bust for paddle surfing. If you absolutely have to get wet, you’d be better off with a kite if the wind picks up, because the surf quality is all 'poor' or non-existent. Let’s hope the long-range forecasts start showing something better.

Rusty.

Read more