Carola Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab a coffee and pull up a chair. This is Rusty, and I’ve got the lowdown on Carola for the next couple of weeks.

First up, I’m not gonna lie to you—the outlook is a quiet one. We’re looking at a long dry spell before anything even remotely rideable shows its face. The first real window of opportunity doesn't arrive until much later. For now, it’s flat or nearly flat for days on end.

From Saturday the 15th right through to the middle of the following week, it’s pretty grim. Tiny 0.7 ft to 1.0 ft swell from the north, with periods around 8 to 9 seconds. That’s not enough push to get you into anything with shape, and the cross-shore to cross-off winds will make it bumpy and frustrating. Honestly, if you paddle out, you’re just getting a workout, not a wave. The combined swell energy is in the low single digits – we're talking 6 to 10 – so there’s just no guts to it at all.

Things don’t change much for the rest of that first week. The swell disappears completely from Thursday the 20th through to the weekend. There’s a tiny blip on Sunday the 23rd with a 10-second period northwest swell giving us 0.3 ft – absolutely not worth the wetsuit.

Now, let’s talk about the brightest spot in this whole forecast. This is the one I’d circle on your calendar. On Monday, August 24th, we start to see a pulse. The morning shows a 0.7 ft NNW swell with a 9-second period, and clean, cross-off winds from the SSE at 9 mph. By the afternoon, the swell bumps up to 1.0 ft from the north, but the wind shifts onshore, putting a slight chop on it.

But the real winner is Tuesday, August 25th. Keep your eyes on Carola (a reef break, advanced only). We’ve got a 1 ft, 11-second NW groundswell arriving. That longer period means more energy per wave, and it’s coming from the optimum direction. The water temp is about average for this time of year. The morning session is your go: clean glassy conditions with a gentle cross-off breeze. The combined swell energy hits 29, which is still weak, but it’s the biggest and best we’ll see. For the advanced crew, that’s the standout of the entire 16 days.

After that, it fades again. There’s another pulse later – Friday, August 28th – with a 1 ft, 12-second NW swell. This one pushes a bit more energy (39 in the morning, 52 in the afternoon) and stays clean with cross-off winds. It’s a backup option for the experts if you miss the 25th, but it’s not quite the same quality.

So here’s the bottom line: it’s a flat, boring forecast for most of the run. The one true stand-out is the morning of Tuesday the 25th of August. That’s your best shot at a clean, lined-up wave at Carola. Don’t sleep on it.

Rusty.

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