Castelejo Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you—this 16-day stretch is a mixed bag. There’s some real quality buried in the second week, but you’ve got to wade through a lot of blown-out, messy junk to get to it. The first few days are a write-off, so don’t even bother waxing up until we get past the weekend.

The opening days, Wednesday and Thursday, are a total loss. We’ve got strong onshore winds from the northwest, and the swell is all over the place—8ft to 8ft but with short, weak periods under 10 seconds. The combined energy is moderate at best (734 and 1208), but the conditions are just ugly. You’re looking at strong cross-onshore wind and messy, choppy surf. This is not a paddle-out situation; this is a watch-it-from-the-cliff kinda day.

Friday doesn’t get much better. The swell drops a touch to just under 7ft, but the wind stays cross-onshore and the period is still short. The energy fades (730), and it’s still poor. By Friday afternoon, it’s slightly more manageable, but we’re only talking marginal at best.

Now, here’s where it starts to get interesting. Saturday morning the 19th is the first real standout. Overnight, the wind swings offshore from the east, and the swell cleans right up. We’ve got a solid 7ft of groundswell from the northwest with a much longer period of 14 seconds. The energy jumps to 1581, which is strong. The water is 68° and it’s running about 3° colder than usual for this time of year—noticeably chilly, so grab the hood. Castelejo (beach and reef) is very consistent, so you won’t be waiting around. It’s going to be clean and powerful. That’s your pick of the first week.

Sunday and Monday are smaller—5ft and then dropping to 4ft—but the offshore easterly flow hangs in there. It’s clean, but the energy drops off hard (522 down to 298). You’ll get some fun little waves, nothing to write home about, but it’s surfable.

Tuesday picks back up slightly with a bit more push (434 in the afternoon), and then things start cooking again for the middle of next week. Wednesday the 23rd sees a new pulse of swell from the west-northwest, 6ft with a 15-second period. The energy surges to 1406. The morning is a bit windy, but the afternoon turns offshore from the southeast and it cleans right up. This is a solid, punchy day.

The rest of that week is more of a waiting game. Thursday is clean with offshore winds, but the swell starts to fade. Friday the 25th is small but has a sneaky long-period pulse in the afternoon—3ft but with an 18-second period and offshore wind. It’s very clean, but it’s small.

Then we hit a bit of a lull. The weekend of the 27th and 28th sees the wind swing back onshore and the swell gets messy. It’s a proper drop-off. That stretch of poor conditions lasts through the 28th and 29th, with strong northwest winds killing any chance of decent surf.

But hold on—the very end of the window has a glimmer. Thursday the 1st of October is looking glassy. Light offshore easterly wind, clean conditions, and a 4ft northwest swell with a 10-second period. The energy is moderate (438), but it’s the cleanest, most inviting surf we’ve seen in days. It’s not the biggest, but it’s a good one to finish on.

So, overall: Saturday the 19th is your first and best call—offshore wind, solid groundswell, clean. Wednesday the 23rd afternoon is the second one. Everything else is average or slop. The good news is Castelejo is very consistent, so even when it’s small, it still breaks. Just pick your windows.

Rusty

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