Cape Mendocino Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get straight into it for Cape Mendocino. Gotta be honest with you, it's been a rough stretch and it's going to stay rough for a good while. This is one of those periods where you’re better off waxing your board and waiting.

Right now and through this coming week, we're looking at a whole lot of nothing. The water is running much colder than normal at 54°, which is over three degrees off the mark – you’ll feel that in your bones. For days, the swell is tiny, mostly around 1ft to 3ft and the wind is a constant problem, with a cross-shore chop mucking everything up. You won’t find a single session worth paddling out for in the first six days. The combined wave energy struggles to even hit moderate numbers, maxing out around 655, and the wave comments tell the same story: poor or marginal.

Now, the second week brings a glimmer, but it's a tricky one. On Sunday the 23rd of August, we get a spike of bigger energy. Swell jumps to 6ft in the morning and 7ft in the afternoon, pushing the combined energy up to 849. But here’s the catch – that swell is from the NW with a period of only 8 seconds. That’s short-period windswell, and with cross-shore winds in the 12 mph range, it’s going to be a mess. At that size and with that wind chop, this is one for experienced surfers only, and honestly, it looks more like a kite-surfing setup than a clean paddle session.

The real standout, the one day that might actually give you a smile, is Monday the 24th of August. We get a tiny 2ft swell from the SW, but it’s packing 18-second groundswell. That’s a very long period, so you’ll get long waits between sets, but the trade-off is shape. The wind goes glassy in the afternoon – dead calm – and the combined energy is a moderate 355. For a shortboard at a point break or reef, that 18-second pulse could actually offer a few lined-up, clean rides. It’s not a day for big waves, but it’s your best shot at some quality. Get ready for crowds though, because this spot gets busy sometimes, and when it’s this clean everyone shows up.

After that, Tuesday the 25th and Wednesday the 26th of August have flickers of glassy conditions again with similar waist-high SW swell, but the period drops to 16 seconds and the size stays tiny. Worth a paddle if you’re desperate, but the Monday session is the one to circle.

Then we fade out into another poor run of cross-shore wind and weak swell right through to the end of August. The forecast is pretty reliable for the near term, but that Monday window is still a week and a half out, so keep an eye on it. Don’t hold your breath on the rest.

Rusty.

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