Caerhays Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s take a look at what we’ve got for Caerhays over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be straight with you, mate – it’s a bit of a tough stretch. The overall pattern is small and messy, with a lot of windy and lumpy conditions for the most part. We’ve got a big spike of energy right at the end of the first week, but the wind is going to ruin it for paddling. Let’s break it down day by day.

Starting out, the first few days are a write-off. Sunday the 30th and Monday the 31st of August are delivering weak, poor surf. Sunday has a cross-onshore wind at 19 mph making it lumpy, with only 3 ft to 4 ft of messy swell. Monday cleans up a bit with a cross-offshore breeze, but the swell drops right away to just 2 ft and even 1 ft in the afternoon. The combined energy is low, around 90 to 110 on Sunday, and then down to 70 Monday afternoon. Not worth paddling out.

Tuesday the 1st of September is flat with tiny 1 ft swell and light cross-onshore breezes. The combined energy is a pathetic 17 to 20. Wednesday the 2nd and Thursday the 3rd aren’t any better – we’re seeing 3 ft to 3 ft of short-period windswell, but the wind is onshore or cross-shore, making it choppy and lumpy. The energy stays in the low 20s to mid-60s.

Now, Friday the 4th of September looks clean with a cross-offshore breeze, but the swell is tiny, just 1.0 ft. The same goes for Saturday the 5th: clean but flat, with 0.7 ft to 2 ft of weak swell. The combined energy is 42 and 16 respectively. There’s a nice long period of 11 to 12 seconds on Friday, suggesting clean conditions for a micro-session if you’re desperate, but it’s not doing anything.

Sunday the 6th and Monday the 7th of September bring a bit of a lift. Sunday morning sees an onshore SSW breeze at 12 mph with 0.7 ft swell, but the combined energy is still tiny. By Monday afternoon, we get a jump: the swell hits 3 ft from the SSW with a short 5-second period, and the wind turns onshore. The energy goes up to 55, but the quality is poor.

Here’s the real beast – Tuesday the 8th of September. The morning shows a massive 12 ft swell from the WSW with a 10-second period. The combined energy explodes to 3228 – that’s very strong wave energy. However, there’s a catch: it’s coming with a fresh cross-onshore wind at 19 mph, so the surf will be messed up. At 12 ft, this is expert-only territory, if you can even get out. The afternoon cleans up with a cross-offshore WNW breeze, but the swell drops back to 3 ft. While the big swell is a standout for raw power, the onshore wind is a major negative. This setup would be far more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

After that, the second week from Wednesday the 9th of September onwards goes flat again. The swell drops to 0.7 ft or less, with a mix of cross-offshore and cross-shore winds. Combined energy is negligible, often below 20. The period is all over the place, from 4 to 14 seconds, but with no size, it doesn’t matter. There’s simply no surf to recommend from Wednesday the 9th right through to Monday the 14th of September.

So, the only real standout is the morning of Tuesday the 8th of September for the sheer size of the swell, but the wind wrecks it for quality surfing. The cleanest windows are on Friday the 4th, Saturday the 5th, and Monday the 8th afternoon, but those have almost no swell. If you’re after a paddle, this 16-day outlook is a bleak run.

Stay tuned, forecasts can change. Rusty.

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