Barra Velha Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ll be straight with you – for the next week and a half at Barra Velha, it’s going to be a real mixed bag of small, weak waves and tricky conditions. The first few days are pretty marginal, with a bit of bump and hardly any push. The standouts come later on, but you’ll need to be patient.

Right now, Tuesday afternoon (August 4th) is a write-off: a tiny 1ft SE swell with a cross-on breeze, and the combined energy is a weak 101. Not worth paddling out for.

Wednesday morning (August 5th) is where we start seeing something rideable. The swell is still small at 2ft from the east, but the wind goes glassy – dead calm. That’s a major positive for clean, crumbly little waves. The combined energy is only 88, so it’s weak, but for a beginner-friendly spot like this, you can get a few fun ones. The water temp is 67°, which is about average for this time of year.

Thursday morning (August 6th) is similar: 2ft east swell, glassy again, but with a period of just 8 seconds, so the waves are a bit soft and lack punch. Still, clean and quiet. Crowds are only “sometimes” here, so it’s a good chance to have it mostly to yourself.

Friday morning (August 7th) sees a slight bump to 3ft from the east-northeast, with glassy conditions and combined energy hitting 111 (moderate). It’s ordinary but surfable.

The standout of the entire forecast is Saturday morning (August 8th). The wind goes calm (0 mph), dead glassy, and the swell picks up to a clean 3ft from the east-northeast. The combined energy jumps right up to 329 (moderate-strong), and the period is a punchy 8 seconds. The water temp anomaly is normal, and this is the best-looking window for clean, fun waves that will suit everyone. It’s a true highlight – get out there early.

Saturday afternoon (August 8th) drops off to 2ft from the southeast, but that swell has a long 13-second period (groundswell), and it’s glassy again. The combined energy is 218 (moderate). This will produce some nice, lined-up waves, but the long period might make it a bit straight at the beach break. For a point break setup, this would be excellent, but here it’s still fun and clean.

Sunday (August 9th) is a write-off – the swell builds to 4–4ft from the southeast, but the wind turns cross-onshore and picks up to 9 mph, making it choppy and messy. Combined energy is high (479–551), but the quality is poor. This is more for kite-surfing than paddle-surfing.

Monday (August 10th) is a morning-only proposition: 4ft from the southeast, cross-shore wind, and combined energy at 516 (strong). The afternoon drops right off.

The rest of the second week is mostly small and weak until Thursday morning (August 13th), when we get 2ft from the southeast with a 12-second period and a clean offshore wind from the west-northwest. Combined energy is 206 (moderate). That’s a nice, clean little window for a few glassy runners.

The last real standout is Monday morning (August 17th) – a 5ft swell from the east-northeast, with a cross-offshore wind (clean) and combined energy of 313 (moderate-strong). This is a bit bigger, so it’s more for intermediate-to-advanced surfers. The swell direction (ENE) matches the optimum direction for this break, so expect good shape. Later that afternoon, it jumps to 6ft and 710 combined energy (strong), but the wind turns cross-onshore and messy, so it’s marginal.

After that, Tuesday and Wednesday (August 18th–19th) hold around 5–6ft from the east, with combined energy over 600 (strong), but the winds are cross-onshore or onshore, keeping the quality marginal. These are more for experienced crew who don’t mind a bit of chop.

Overall, the best sessions are Saturday morning (August 8th) and Monday morning (August 17th). Keep an eye on the Thursday morning (August 13th) glass-off, too.

Rusty.

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