Baggies Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's take a look at what's cookin' for us.

Right off the bat, the outlook for Baggies is a bit of a slow starter. There's swell around, but the conditions are just plain ugly for a while. Starting Friday the 21st, we've got a south swell coming in at about 3.6ft with a clean 13-second period, but the cross-shore wind has it all chopped up and messy. The wave energy is moderate (461), but the quality is just not there. It stays frustrating through Saturday and Sunday, the wind either howling or onshore, turning the place into a washing machine. Sunday the 23rd sees a 6.6ft south swell with a short 9-second period, but the fresh cross-onshore wind is a killer, making it lumpy and poor. You'd be better off doing something else those days.

Things start to get a little more interesting, but it's still a grind. Monday the 24th is marginal, with a 3.6ft south swell and a 10-second period, but again, the wind is messing with it. The water temp is sitting at 70.5°, which is pretty much average for this time of year, so that's not a factor. The real standout in this whole run doesn't pop up until the end of the coming week. Wednesday the 26th afternoon has a solid 4.9ft south swell with a very long 17-second period. That's proper groundswell energy, and the wave energy jumps up to a strong 1475. The wind goes light and onshore, but the raw power and period of that swell at Baggies, a point break, is exactly what you want. That long period will wrap in beautifully, offering some proper, lined-up waves. It's the best on offer by a long shot, but it's still a marginal call, so don't expect perfection.

After that blip of quality, the forecast gets messy again. Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th see more south swell, but the wind cranks up hard from the northeast, howling at 22-25 mph, and that just tears the surface to pieces. The wave energy is huge (over 4000 on Thursday afternoon), but it's unsurfable for a paddle. That kind of setup with a strong cross-shore wind and a beach? That's more of a kite-surfing kind of day. Then into the weekend of the 29th and 30th, the swell turns east-northeast with a shorter period of 8 seconds, and the size pushes up to 8.2ft. That's expert territory for size, but the short period will make it fat and crumbly. The wind is still cross or cross-on, so it's a mess.

The second week, from the 31st of August through to the 5th of September, doesn't offer much. The swell stays east-northeast, generally around 4.9ft to 6.9ft, but the period is consistently short and the wind is never clean. The energy is moderate at best, and the conditions are always described as poor or marginal. It's a pretty flat, frustrating run for the most part.

So, to sum it up for you: the only real window to get excited about is Wednesday the 26th afternoon. The long-period south groundswell will make Baggies come alive, but keep your expectations in check. The rest of the 16 days is a lot of wind and chop that you'll want to avoid.

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