Cap Frehel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, it’s Rusty here, and I’ve gotta be straight with you – this forecast for the Cap Frehel area is a tough one. We’re looking at a real dry spell for the next 16 days. The swell is barely kicking, and when it does, the wind and conditions are just not cooperating. Don’t get your hopes up for any classic sessions; it’s a long wait for anything close to decent.

Let’s start with a look at the first couple of days. Thursday the 3rd kicks off with some small swell, 3 ft from the WNW, but it’s a short-period 8 seconds and the wind is onshore from the NW at 12 mph. The water is a warm 68°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, by about 4°, but that’s the only good news. The combined energy is weak (67), so it’s just a messy, choppy mess.

We roll into Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th with a slight bump in size, around 3 ft to 4 ft, and the energy picks up a bit (between 160 and 199). The problem is the wind. We’ve got cross-onshore and onshore winds picking up to 22 mph on Friday afternoon, making it ugly. Even though Saturday morning has a long-period swell of 11 seconds, the wind is still cross-onshore, so it’s not clean.

There’s a glimmer on Sunday the 6th morning. The wind swings offshore from the SE at 12 mph. But the swell is tiny, only 1 ft, and the energy is a weak 38. It’s clean, but there’s nothing to ride. The rest of the first week is a washout with onshore winds and poor surf conditions.

The second week doesn’t offer much relief. We see a bit of a spike in size on the 8th and 9th, with swell up to 4 ft, but the period is a pitiful 5 seconds on the 8th, and it’s all onshore wind. The combined energy does get up to 237 on the 8th afternoon, but with a 9-second period and onshore wind, it’s just a lumpy, closed-out mess at Cap Frehel. The swell direction is mostly WNW, but the wind is never right.

The only periods that look even remotely surfable are the mornings of the 15th and 16th of September. On the 15th, we have a 2 ft swell with a 9-second period, and the wind is cross-offshore from the east at 6 mph, giving us clean conditions. The energy is weak (47). On the 16th, it’s a similar story: 2 ft swell, 10-second period, with a clean offshore wind from the ESE at 3 mph. These are the only two sessions in the entire 16-day window that get a "surfable" label, but with such tiny waves, it’s barely worth a paddle. The water is average for the time of year during these days.

The rest of the time from the 17th onward, the wind is just howling onshore, with gusts up to 25 mph, and the swell drops to nothing. For a spot like Cap Frehel, a reef break that’s exposed to the swell, this is a proper lull. It’s a rare stretch of dead calm. The forecast can change, but right now, there’s nothing to get excited about.

Rusty, signing off.

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