Block Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab a coffee and settle in. Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what's going on around Block Island.

Honestly, mate, it’s a tough stretch. We’re looking at a 16-day window and honestly, the first half is a real struggle. I wouldn't bother paddling out for the first week at all. There’s hardly a pulse of decent, rideable surf until we get deep into the second week. You’re looking at a solid 13, maybe 14 days of basically flat to weak, blown-out junk before anything worth a proper mention shows up.

The water temp’s sitting around 68°F, right bang on average for this time of year, so no thermal surprises there, but you wouldn’t know it from the lack of energy.

Block Island (United States) is the only game in town, but it’s a tricky one. It’s a point break that *rarely breaks* and it often gets crowded, which is a lot of risk for very little payoff right now. The early window is full of onshore and cross-shore winds, with lumpy, choppy, messy conditions. Swell energy is weak to moderate at best—a reading of just 106 on Monday the 6th for example, and it goes down from there. You’re looking at short-period, weak windswell mostly under 3 ft, with nothing to get excited about.

Now, we do start to see a pulse of energy from the South-Southwest kicking in around the 18th and 19th of July. It’s still not clean, but the combined energy climbs to a moderate 209 (Sunday morning the 19th) with a 3 ft swell. The real standout, though, and the only one I’d even circle on a calendar, is Monday the 20th of July. We get a jump in swell to 7 ft from the SSW, with a combined energy reading of 505. That’s a solid, moderate-to-strong pulse. But there’s a massive caveat: the wind is onshore from the SSE, which is going to make it messy. At 7 ft it’s pushing into that territory where it’s really only good for experienced surfers. This spot is a point, which can handle a bigger swell, but with an onshore wind, it won’t be the clean, peeling wave you want. The period is only 8 seconds, so it's a short-period swell, more of a windswell than a clean groundswell. Still, it’s the only real window of size in the whole outlook.

So, if you’re an expert and you’re desperate for a wave, keep an eye on the 20th. But the winds will likely wreck it. For everyone else, the forecast is a long, dry spell. It’s a tough run for the area, but forecasts can change.

Rusty.

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