Amanzimtoti Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it. Mostly, this stretch is a waiting game for us at Amanzimtoti. There’s a lot of junk wind and just not much rideable energy for paddle surfing through the coming days.

Starting Friday, and running through the next few days, the sea is messy. Friday morning the swell is only 2ft from the SSW with a solid 16-second period, but that 16 mph cross-on wind out of the SSW shreds it to pieces. It’s poor. Afternoon sees it drop even smaller with 1ft and still cross-onshore. Saturday is no better – tiny surf and even the long period from the SSW can't save it from the wind. Sunday has a hint of something: by midday the energy stops being weak, moving up to a moderate 551 (combined energy), with 3ft SSW swell and 18-second period, but it’s still cross-on from the east with only a light breeze. That’s ‘marginal’ and nothing you’d want to get out of bed for. Monday is a write-off entirely due to gale force cross-shore wind.

There is a real gap of poor to disappointing conditions until we hit Friday the 18th of September. That afternoon is the true standout so far. The wind clocks around to a light cross-offshore from the north-northeast, only 6 mph, and that cleans up the 5ft swell coming from the east with a 9-second period. The combined energy is a moderate 667. For a beach and reef spot like Amanzimtoti, cross-offshore at this size means the waves will be lined up and fun. This is the one small window of genuinely “very good” conditions in the first week. Crowds are possible here on the weekend, but on a Friday afternoon you might get lucky.

After that, we look at Sunday the 20th of September. The morning kicks in with a proper 5ft SSW swell and a very long period of 20 seconds. Combined energy jumps right up to a strong 1671. Wind is only a light cross-on breeze from the east-northeast. That long period from the south-southwest is perfect for Amanzimtoti’s reef setup, pushing in clean and with shape. It’s rated as marginal, but with those numbers, any surfer with some local knowledge will have a good session. The afternoon gets bigger at 6ft, but the wind picks up and goes more onshore, making it lumpy.

Into the second week, it gets unpredictable. By Wednesday the 23rd, the swell is over 8ft (10ft in the afternoon) from the south-southwest at a short 10-second period. This is big and messy and only for experts if you can handle a strong cross-shore wind. The week closing out doesn't offer anything clean until Friday the 25th of September, when a 6ft south swell with 13-second period and light cross-on wind appears, but it's still only marginal.

The water temp anomaly is not given, so I’ll just say the water feels about what you’d expect for the time of year out there.

If you’re a kite surfer, some of these windy, onshore days might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer the clear targets are the Friday afternoon (18th) and Sunday morning (20th). Don’t get your hopes up for the rest.

Rusty.

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