Captains Surf Forecast and Surf Reports

(Cape Town, South Africa)

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Captains Surf Guide

Captains in Western Cape is an exposed beach and reef break that has quite consistent surf. Summer offers the optimum conditions for surfing. The best wind direction is from the east. Tends to receive distant groundswells and the best swell direction is from the west southwest. The beach breaks offer lefts and rights. It very rarely gets crowded here. Submerged rocks are a hazard.

Captains Spot Info

Type:	Rating:	Reliability:	Todays Sea Temp*:
Beach and reef	4	fairly consistent	15.9°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite

Surfing Captains:

The best conditions reported for surf at Captains occur when a West-southwest swell combines with an offshore wind direction from the East.

Hourly Forecast

16 Day Forecast

What's the best time of year to surf Captains (for consistent clean waves)?

julyBest Season: winter

The best time of year for surfing Captains with consistent clean waves (rideable swell with light / offshore winds) is during Winter and most often the month of July. Clean surfable waves are typically found 36% of the time in July while 63% of the time it tends to be blown out. For the remaining 1% of the time it is considered too small by most surfers but may still be OK for beginners and groms at times.

clean

36%

Surfable waves that hold up well for longer rides in prevailing cross-offshore, offshore or light wind conditions.

blown out

63%

Surfable sized waves that are of poorer quality due to prevailing onshore, cross-onshore or windy conditions (may be preferable for kitesurfing).

too small

Waves usually considered too small for good surf. Some wave-magnet breaks may still work though if conditions are right (on occasion).

Explore Captains Location Map

Interactive Captains surf break location map. View information about nearby surf breaks, their wave consistency and rating compared to other spots in the region. Current swell conditions from local buoys are shown along with live wind speed and direction from nearby weather stations. Click icons on the map for more detail. The nearest passenger airport to Captains is Cape Town International Airport (CPT) in South Africa, which is 32 km (20 miles) away (directly). The second closest airport to Captains is Oudtshoorn Airport (DUH), also in South Africa, 347 km (216 miles) away.

Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)
Wind Speed (km/h)

Please note that some surf spot locations are approximate to protect their exact location while others are not shown at close zoom level.

Captains Surf Forecasts:

Hourly Forecast

16 Day Forecast

Todays Surf Summary
Wednesday, 6 May 2026, 14:17 Local Time

m, °C	Wednesday 06
ft, °F	11AM	2PM	5PM	8PM
Wave (m)	S	S	S	S
Period (s)	10	10	10	9
Wind (km/h)
Wind State	cross	cross- off	cross- off	cross- off

Tides at Captains

Current tide and informaton

For Beach Road, 3 km from Captains.

Next High Water: 05:57pm | 1.19m

Next Low Water: 11:56pm | 0.5m

NEXT	IS AT (local time)	remaining
high tide
low tide

Captains Sea Temperature

The water temperature (15.9 °C) at Captains is quite cool. If the sun shines as we have forecast, it should feel warm enough to surf in a good spring wetsuit. Effective windchill factor of (16.0 °C) will make the air and water feel about the same temperature.

Today, many surfers would wear a spring wetsuit.

Current Temp*: 15.9°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite