Apache Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, I’m gonna level with you. It’s a tough watch out there at Apache Pier. The water is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, sitting at 85°F, which is nice for a paddle, but that’s about where the good news ends.

The forecast period is a long one, 16 days, but it’s mostly a dry spell. For the first week, from Monday the 24th of August right through to Sunday the 30th, we’re looking at a real flat spell with tiny, weak swell. The combined energy is mostly low, often in the 20s and 30s (24 to 77), which is barely a ripple. The wind is all over the place – cross-shore, cross-on, and even some onshore – so the surface is going to be chopped up and messy. There’s a few glassy moments early Tuesday morning the 25th and again on Saturday morning the 29th, but with swell heights of just 1.0ft to 2ft and a period of 5 seconds, there’s nothing to push in. It’s honestly pretty poor for paddle surfing, and with those cross-winds and small chop, the setup might actually be more interesting for kite surfing than for a regular surf.

Things don’t really improve into the second week. There’s a bit of a lift in the energy around Monday the 31st of August, but the waves are still tiny. The standout window, if you can even call it that, arrives on Tuesday the 1st of September. We get a clean, cross-off shore breeze in the morning from the WNW at 6 mph, and the swell period jumps to 15 seconds – that’s a long-period groundswell. The wave height is only 1.0ft though, so it’s more of a micro-glide than a proper wave. The combined energy hits 68, which is still weak. This long-period swell will be better suited for a point or reef, but at a sandbar like Apache Pier, it’s likely to break too straight and be tricky to ride. Still, it’s the cleanest you’ll see.

The only other slight flicker of life is on Thursday the 3rd of September. The morning brings a clean cross-off breeze from the west at 6 mph, with 2ft swell from the SE at 13 seconds. The combined energy finally pushes into the moderate range at 122. It’s still ordinary, but it’s the biggest energy we’ll get. The swell direction is from the SSE, which is not the optimum for Apache Pier (that’s SSE), so it’s a decent match. The period is long enough to have some shape, but it’s small.

Honestly, there’s nothing here for a beginner, and even for the experienced, it’s a real test of patience. The consistency is there, but the quality is not. For the whole 16 days, the surf is just too small and messy to get excited about. It’s one of those stretches where the forecast can change, but right now, it’s a waiting game.

Stay patient, keep an eye on the sky, and hope for a better run.

Rusty

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