Anse Bougainville Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – the outlook for Anse Bougainville over the next couple of weeks is a tough one. We’ve got a solid run of swell on the cards, but the wind is just hammering it, making conditions pretty ordinary for a paddle. The first real surf we see kicks off on Monday the 14th of September, and while there’s some energy in the water (combined energy of 692), that persistent onshore wind from the SE is going to chop things up. The water is a touch warmer than normal at 82.8°, which is nice for the body, but not much else.

From Monday afternoon right through the rest of the week and into the following week, it’s the same story. Swell builds nicely, hitting over 6.6 ft and up to 8.2 ft by Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th, with the combined energy pushing into four-digit territory (1765 on Thursday afternoon). The period stretches to 10 seconds, which gives the waves some push, but the direction is coming from the SSE and SE, which is straight onshore for this exposed reef break. With that wind state locked in as "on" for the entire period, the waves will be blown out and messy. This is a classic case of the setup looking more interesting for kite surfing than for a paddle surfer.

There is a little glimmer on the 28th of September, a Monday. The swell drops right off to 2.6 ft, but the period jumps way up to 16 seconds – that’s a very long period groundswell. The wind is still onshore though, and the combined energy is moderate at 720. By the afternoon, the swell direction shifts to SSW with a 15-second period and a combined energy of 1007. While the longer period suggests better shaped waves, the persistent onshore wind ruins it. Given the constant onshore wind and the exposed nature of this reef, there are really no standout days for a clean surf. It’s a long, frustrating run of poor conditions, and with a lack of consistency in quality, a blank run like this is just part of the deal here sometimes.

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