Cap Frehel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get real about Cap Frehel. This is a reef setup that’s exposed to west swell, but I gotta be straight with you—there’s nothing worth paddling out for across this entire 16-day stretch. The forecast is a flat, blown-out mess for almost every session.

Starting from Tuesday, August 11th, right through the whole first week, we’ve got tiny swell—most of it around 0.7 ft to 1 ft, period all over the shop from 8 seconds up to 12 seconds, but it just doesn’t matter. The combined swell energy is weak, barely cracking two digits (18 to 45), and the wind is all wrong. Tuesday morning starts clean enough with a cross-off breeze, but the swell is just too small to surf. Every afternoon brings onshore junk, and Wednesday through Sunday is the same story: onshore winds, tiny waves, and poor conditions.

Saturday August 15th sees a little bump to 3 ft, but that’s a short-period wind swell at 5 seconds, with cross-onshore winds making it choppy and sloppy. By Monday August 17th, the swell drops to 0.3 ft. Honestly, this is more of a kite-surfing window than anything for a paddle surfer—the beach and reef combo with strong winds and lumpy chop is just not friendly to a surfboard.

There’s a brief moment on Friday August 21st morning where the score finally ticks up to a 1/10, with 2 ft from the NW, period only 5 seconds, but the wind is light cross-off and it’s clean. The comment says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” so yeah, you could get wet, but it’s not going to be memorable.

Then the second week gets ugly. Saturday August 22nd has winds up to 25 mph onshore, and by Monday August 24th we see the biggest swell of the whole period—4 ft from the WNW, 10-second period, and the combined wave energy jumps to 326—that’s moderate energy. But the wind is a near gale from the west at 31 mph, cross-onshore, and it’s blown out. That same day afternoon is similar. That’s expert-only if anyone’s silly enough to go out, but the conditions are just messy.

Tuesday August 25th still has some energy (119), but the wind is moderate cross-onshore and choppy. The rest of the week fades back to tiny, weak, and onshore.

Water temp is around 68°F, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s the only bright spot. Crowds at Cap Frehel are always present, but honestly, with this outlook, you won’t have to fight for anything.

Bottom line: there are zero standout sessions here. This is 16 days of no-go. That’s just how it goes sometimes in this area—when it’s flat, it’s flat. I’d save the wax and wait for a better window.

Rusty.

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