Block Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on the table for Block Island over the next couple of weeks. Gotta be straight with ya – it’s a tough stretch.

Honestly, we're looking at a real quiet spell for paddle surfing. The whole 16-day window is a bit of a write-off, with wave heights almost never cracking anything rideable and the score reflecting that across the board. The best we can say is that there's a bit of activity mid-period, but it's far from ideal.

September 5th through September 13th is a real desert. Tiny, weak swell with poor surf conditions day after day. Winds are all over the place – cross, cross-off, cross-on – but none of it makes up for the sheer lack of any real swell energy. The combined wave energy is often below 50, which is just dead. Even the bigger windows of energy, like that Wednesday afternoon September 9th with the swell picking up to 6 ft and a combined energy of 195, or the Thursday morning September 10th hitting 6 ft with energy up at 371, are all flagged with poor surf conditions. The wind is a real issue – fresh breeze on that Thursday is offshore from the NW, which would usually clean things up, but the swell is coming from the SSW with a period of only 8 seconds, so it’s short-period, weak stuff.

The only time we see any real size is from September 13th onward, but it comes with a catch. That Sunday afternoon September 13th has 6 ft on the way from the SW, combined energy of 300, but the wind is a moderate cross-onshore, making it choppy. The Monday September 14th has 5 ft from the SW, but again, a moderate cross-shore wind and cross-chop. It's not clean, it's not well-shaped. This kind of swell, with that onshore wind, looks more like a cross- or shore-break that would be a messy, jacking close-out. Honestly, for those couple of days, the setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Given that Block Island is a point break that rarely breaks, this blank run is not unusual for the area. It's a place that demands a very specific swell and window, and this isn't it.

There are no standout sessions here, no true highlights. Even the bigger swells in the second week are compromised. It's a lean few weeks, folks. Forecasts can change, but for now, save the petrol.

- Rusty.

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