Castelejo Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, old mate. Let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for the next couple of weeks. I’ll be straight with you – it’s a pretty grim run for a while. The whole 16-day window is a real mixed bag of onshore winds and slop, with a few tiny windows where things clean up but never really get good. There’s a big gap of poor surf from now until the start of September, with nothing worth paddling out for. The water temperature here at Castelejo is sitting at 68°, which is a bit colder than usual for this time of year – that’s about 3° cooler than normal, so you’ll feel that nip.

The first real chance of anything half-decent doesn’t show up until the morning of Friday, September 4th. That morning, we’ve got a clean-looking sky with a light offshore breeze from the ENE at 6 mph, keeping the surface smooth. The swell is small, coming from the NW at 4 ft with a short period of 8 seconds, and the combined energy is weak at 176. It’s surfable, but very ordinary. The afternoon is similar, with a tiny 4 ft NW swell, light SSE winds at 3 mph, and even lower energy at 136. Keep your expectations low.

Into Saturday, September 5th, the morning is still clean with a light ESE breeze, but the swell drops to 3 ft from the NW with a period of just 7 seconds. This is small and weak, with energy at 121. The afternoon gets a bit more interesting though – the swell bumps up to 4 ft from the NW, but the period jumps to 13 seconds, which is a long-period groundswell. That’s more energy, with combined energy at 526, but the wind swings onshore from the W at 6 mph, bringing light cross-onshore bumps. The tide could be a factor, so it’s marginal. Given the long period, this would actually be better at a point or reef, but Castelejo is a beach and reef spot, so the waves might break a bit too straight for my liking.

The standout session, if you can call it that, is probably the morning of Friday, September 4th. It’s crisp, clean, and the wind is offshore – that’s the major positive. But the swell is tiny and weak. If you’re desperate for a paddle, that’s your window. There’s nothing else in the whole 16 days that gets above a score of 2, and even that’s a stretch. For the rest of the time, the wind is mostly cross-on or onshore, lumpy, and messy. The swell direction is out of the NW, which is actually the optimum direction for this spot, but the wind ruins it.

So, bottom line: it’s a quiet period. The forecasts can always change, but for now, you’re better off cleaning the wax off your board and waiting for a proper run.

Rusty

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