Caerhays Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here, with a look at the Caerhays stretch for the next couple of weeks. We've got a classic summer pattern setting up – plenty of small days ahead, so patience is the name of the game. The water’s sitting at a balmy 64° which is much warmer than usual for this time of year, so the wait won't be a cold one.

The first week is pretty grim for any serious surfing. We’ve got a few days of clean conditions, like Thursday the 9th with a sweet glassy afternoon, but the swell is non-existent at just 0.3 ft. A real lake job. That theme continues through Friday, with a tiny 2 ft pulse of short-period, 4-second junk showing up in the afternoon but it’s straight onshore. By Saturday the 11th, we start to see a tiny bump in energy, with 3 ft on the face, but that cross-breeze is going to keep things messy. The swell picks up through Sunday and into the start of the next week, but the quality is shot. Look at Monday the 13th – we’ve got a 8 ft swell from the ESE, but the wind is absolutely howling out of the east at 25 mph, making it a complete washing machine. The energy is there (528 – moderate wave energy), but for paddle surfing, it’s a write-off. That setup actually looks more interesting for kite surfing than anything on a stick.

The good news is we finally see a window of opportunity. After the washout early in the week, the winds start to clock around. On Wednesday the 15th, a clean cross-off breeze arrives, and while the swell is only 0.3 ft, the conditions are tidy. But the real standout, the only one worth circling on your calendar, is Monday the 20th of July. We get a solid offshore breeze out of the NNW all morning, and the swell bumps up to a clean 3 ft. The conditions are described as "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions" – don’t let that fool you. After a week and a half of fluff, a 3 ft wave with a clean, moderate offshore wind and a fairly exposed SSW-facing bank is a Godsend. It’s the best we’ve got, hands down. Crowds are sometimes a factor at Caerhays, so you might have to share, but for that one morning, it’ll be worth it.

After that, the outlook fades into the second week with a return to tiny, clean but essentially flat conditions. A few pulses of long-period 15-second energy show up around the 22nd, but at 0.3 ft, they’ll be rolling in like whispers. The offshore winds remain, but without any size, we’re back to a waiting game.

Rusty.

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