Apache Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab your board, but I gotta be straight with you—this 16-day stretch for Apache Pier is a tough one to watch. We’ve got a long, long gap of poor conditions before anything even feels like surfing. The water temp is sitting at 83°F, which is about 2°F warmer than usual for this time of year, so it’s a bit bath-like, but that’s the only thing that’s not a headache.

Right now, from the start, all the way through to the morning of July 8th, it’s a wasteland. Tiny, weak swell with hardly any energy behind it (combined energy in the 20-40 range), and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, messing up whatever little bumps there are. You’re looking at a solid six days of nothing rideable.

Things finally get *almost* interesting on the morning of July 8th (Wednesday). Swell stays small at 3 ft from the south, with a weak period of 6 seconds. Energy is still low (60). But the wind swings cross-offshore from the WSW at 9 mph, and the description calls it "clean." It’s just barely surfable, but not for a lack of effort. For the hardcore loggers out there wanting to bob around on a longboard, this is your window. It’s not good, but it’s not totally blown out.

After that, it’s back to onshore junk and rising wind for the rest of the week. The swell bumps up a bit from July 9th through the 11th, hitting 5 to 7 ft from the south, with moderate energy (jumping up to 209-320). That might sound like something, but the period stays short (6-7 seconds) and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-shore at 12-22 mph, making it choppy and lumpy. The direction, SSE to SSW, isn’t anything special for the pier setup either.

There are a couple of isolated clean windows. The morning of July 11th (Saturday) has a cross-offshore wind with a 4 ft south swell, but it’s only rated as "surfable but very ordinary" with a score of 1 out of 10. Not a standout. The morning of July 12th (Sunday) offers a tiny bump at 2 ft with a glassy cross-offshore breeze from the NNE, but the energy is weak (67) and the period is short.

So, what’s the best of a bad bunch? If you’re desperate, set your alarm for the morning of July 8th or the morning of July 15th (Wednesday). On the 15th, you get a 3 ft south swell with a light cross-offshore NE wind and clean conditions. It’s still weak period (5 seconds) and low energy (78), but it’s the cleanest wave in the whole 16-day forecast. That’s about as good as it gets here, and that’s not saying much. For the rest of the time, with the onshore winds and choppy crumble, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Hang in there, or find a lake. The swell window just isn’t lining up.

Rusty

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