Ammonias Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it. For this stretch, it’s looking like a bit of a grind at Ammonias. We’ve got a classic trade wind setup pushing in from the ENE, and honestly, for the next several days, it’s going to be a battle against the cross-shore and cross-onshore wind. The first real window we can look at is Thursday morning the 27th. We’ve got a decent swell rolling in—call it 4ft from the south with a long 17-second period. That’s proper groundswell energy, with the combined energy reading moderate at 949. The problem? That ENE wind at 15 mph is making a mess of things. It’s cross-shore and the surface is going to be chopped up. You’ll see it, but it won’t be clean. The afternoon cleans up slightly to clear skies, but that wind stays on it. The swell drops a touch to 3ft, and the period backs off a bit, but it’s still a struggle. Honestly, it’s not worth getting too excited about.

Friday the 28th is more of the same. We’re looking at 3ft of south swell with a 14-second period, and that ENE cross-shore wind is still hanging around at 15 mph. The morning is questionable, the afternoon just turns into poor conditions. The energy is dropping too. It’s a holding pattern.

Then things get interesting in a bad way. Saturday the 29th into Sunday the 30th, the swell direction swings around to the ENE, and it jumps up in size to 6ft, then 6ft. But the period crashes down to 6-7 seconds. That’s pure wind swell, short and crumbly, and with that same ENE wind pushing onshore, it’s going to be a choppy, bumpy mess. The combined energy stays moderate, but the quality is zero. You might get some bigger waves, but they won’t be rideable in any meaningful way. This is more of a nuisance than anything else.

We’re looking at a gap of a few days here where there’s nothing worth paddling out for. From Saturday through to Wednesday the 2nd, it’s all that wind-blown ENE swell, with the size ranging from 5ft to 7ft, but all of it with short, weak periods. There are a couple of moments where a longer period south swell tries to sneak in, like Wednesday afternoon the 2nd, when we get a 3ft south swell with a 16-second period, but the wind is still cross-shore and it’s messy. It’s just not coming together.

The beginning of September is a dead zone. From Thursday the 3rd through to Saturday the 5th, the swell drops off, the periods are short, and the wind is still cross-shore or cross-on. It’s flat and poor. There’s nothing to get excited about. This is a real lull.

Now, looking further out, there’s a glimmer of hope. Sunday the 6th of September brings a bit more energy. The combined swell energy jumps up to strong at 1124, and we’ve got a mix of swells—4ft from the ENE with an 11-second period, and a 3ft from the SSW with a 16-second period. The wind drops to a light breeze, but it’s still cross-onshore. It’s a marginal call, but it’s the most surfable it’s looked in a while. Then Monday the 7th looks a touch better for size, with 4ft of SSW groundswell at 16 seconds, and the energy still strong at 1113. The wind is light, but still cross-onshore. It’s promising, but it’s a ways off, so don’t book your flights yet.

The second week is more of the same—small, inconsistent south swells with ENE winds messing things up. There’s a moment on Wednesday the 9th in the afternoon where the wind swings to a cross-offshore from the NNE and conditions look clean with 3ft of SSW swell at 13 seconds. That’s a window, but it’s a small one. And then we hit Thursday and Friday the 10th and 11th, where we’re back to ENE wind swell, cross-on, and risk of thunderstorms. It’s not looking great.

All in all, this is a pretty bleak run for Ammonias. The reef there can handle a bit of swell, but it’s just not getting any clean waves for a while. There’s a lot of energy moving around, but the wind is just not our friend. You might get one or two windows if you’re desperate and local, but for the most part, it’s a waiting game. The long period south swells are there, but they’re being buried under the wind chop. Keep the board in the car, but maybe don’t rush to the water just yet.

Rusty

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