Bennys (Hikkaduwa) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s talk about what’s doing for the southwest coast of Sri Lanka.

To be honest, the next couple of weeks at Bennys (Hikkaduwa) are looking grim. You’re staring down the barrel of a proper flat spell with sloppy, onshore winds making a mess of things. The water’s sitting at 83° – about a degree and a half warmer than usual for this time of year, so that’s nice if you’re just floating around, but not much else.

We’ve got a long gap with no real surf to speak of. From Thursday the 16th right through to Monday the 20th, it’s all weak, cross-onshore junk. Swell is tiny – around 2ft to 3ft – and the wind is howling from the west at 12 to 15 mph. The wave energy is twitching between 338 and 617 (weak to moderate), but it’s not doing anything clean. Thursday morning the 16th is a total write-off: 3ft of SW swell, but that onshore wind has it chop-city. Friday and the weekend are just more of the same grey, stormy rubbish.

Monday the 20th shows a bit more pulse – 5ft from the SSW with a very long 18-second period. That’s groundswell energy, which is normally a good sign (1561 combined energy). But the cross-onshore wind blows that chance too. It’s marginal at best – sets might roll through but it’ll be lumpy.

There’s nothing worth highlighting until we jump way ahead to Wednesday the 29th of July. That morning, the swell is 4ft from the SW with a very long 20-second period and combined energy climbing to 1225. Still, wind is cross-onshore from the west at 12 mph, so it’s only a marginal call. The afternoon of the 29th pushes energy up to 1631 with 4ft from the SW, but same cross-onshore story. Clean it’s not.

Thursday the 30th of July sees the biggest swell of the window – 7ft from the SW, period 19 seconds, and combined energy at a solid 3699. That’s strong energy, but again, cross-onshore and the wave comment only rates it a 2 out of 10. For advanced surfers only, and even then, it’s going to be a messy, powerful beast at a reef setup.

Honestly, this whole stretch is a bust. If you’re a paddle surfer, save your energy. The wind is relentless from the west and southwest, and the swell direction isn’t lining up with the optimum from the SW cleanly. There is no standout day in this outlook. For a break that’s fairly consistent like Bennys, this kind of blank run is a bit unusual, but it happens. You’d be better off waiting for the forecasts to shift. This setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddling.

Rusty.

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