Cap Frehel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, well… I’m not gonna lie to you. The outlook for the Cap Frehel area over the next 16 days is about as exciting as watching paint dry in a parking lot. There are no good surf options on offer at all through this whole period. I’ve looked hard at Cap Frehel reef, and honestly, every single session has been marked as poor surf conditions, which means there’s nothing I can recommend for a paddle out.

The story here is a frustrating one. We start off on Saturday, 29 August, with a tiny 1 ft swell from the WNW at a short 7 seconds, but a fresh 22 mph SW cross-wind has it looking lumpy and cross-chop. It’s just not worth it. That afternoon the wind jumps to 28 mph from the west – strong cross-onshore and messy – with only a weak 5 ft windswell. The combined energy is a feeble 19 (weak). The water temp is sitting at a very unusual 68°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year – more than 5° above average.

Sunday 30 August stays poor. A 3 ft swell, but again cross-winds from the SW at 19 mph. There’s a moderate wave energy reading of 101 but it’s accompanied by fresh cross-shore wind and lumpy conditions. Monday 31 August brings a slightly bigger 5 ft swell from the WNW with a 10-second period and combined energy of 425 (moderate), but the wind is a fresh 19 mph cross-onshore in the morning, turning to a fresh 19 mph offshore NW in the afternoon. That NW offshore wind is a positive, but the break quality is still rated poor – likely due to the strong wind or swell direction not matching up.

Tuesday 1 September sees the swell drop right back to tiny 2 ft, and even though the wind is a lighter 6 mph from the WSW, it’s cross-onshore. Thursday 3 September has a 4 ft swell with moderate energy (157), but again cross-onshore wind kills it.

From there it’s a long, blank stretch. There’s a tiny 0.7 ft swell on Thursday 10 September with a light cross-offshore breeze from the SSW which is clean, but the swell is just too small to surf. That’s as close as we get to anything rideable, and it’s nothing. By Friday 11 September, we’ve got a 1 ft groundswell with a 11-second period, but strong 22 mph cross-onshore winds ruin it again.

What this means is a dead run. There’s a gap of several days with no surf recommendations right from the start, and it doesn’t really change. Cap Frehel is listed as fairly consistent, which makes this blank spell a bit of a fluke for the area, but it’s what we’ve got. With consistent surf being the norm here, this kind of flat stretch is unusual and forecasts can change, but for now, there’s nothing to get excited about for paddle surfing. If you’ve got a kite, the stronger wind days like Saturday 29 August afternoon (28 mph onshore) or Friday 11 September (22-25 mph onshore) could be more interesting, but for a traditional surfer, sit this one out.

Rusty.

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