Bolsa Chica Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the menu for Bolsa Chica.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – the next week and a half looks tough. We’ve got a long stretch of onshore and cross-onshore winds messing things up, with tiny, weak swell. From Monday the 31st of August all the way through to Friday the 11th of September, it’s mostly “poor surf conditions” with small waves and bumpy faces. There’s a couple of those mornings where the wind eases a bit, but the swell is just so small – 2 ft to 3 ft – it’s hardly worth paddling out for unless you’re absolutely desperate for a splash on a longboard.

Now, there is a glimmer of hope. If you can wait it out, Sunday morning the 6th of September is the one that stands out. The wind goes completely glassy – dead calm – and that’s a major positive for a spot like this. We get a 5 ft swell from the south with a 13-second period. Combined wave energy is sitting at 893 (moderate energy), so there’s some proper push behind it. The water temp is a whopping 75°, which is 9° warmer than normal – that’s very unusual for this time of year, so you’ll be surfing in a warm bath. That early window on Sunday morning will be clean as a whistle, with waves up to about chest to head high. The downside? The south swell direction isn’t quite the ideal southwest that Bolsa Chica loves, so it won’t be perfect, but with glassy conditions it’ll still be the best surf we see.

Saturday the 5th of September morning is a marginal second option – 3 ft swell from the SSW with a light cross-onshore breeze. It’s not clean, but there’s enough energy to play on if you’re a beginner looking to get some practice in. Bolsa Chica is fairly consistent and exposed, so it rarely goes completely flat, but this stretch is a reminder that it can be a grind.

After that Sunday glass-off, it’s back to small, weak swell and messy winds for the rest of the forecast period. The second week doesn’t offer much – wave heights drop back to 1 ft to 3 ft, and the combined energy falls under 400, meaning weak, gutless waves. The wind stays onshore or cross-onshore, and conditions just aren’t worth planning around.

In short: Sunday morning the 6th is your best bet, no question. It’s the only real standout. The rest is a lot of waiting.

Stay tuned, forecasts can change, but for now, that’s how it is.

Rusty.

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