Castles Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let me tell you about the outlook for Castles over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – it’s a grim stretch. The first week is a write-off, and the second week doesn’t offer much hope either. We’re looking at a solid 16-day period with no real quality surf on the cards. The first few days, from the 20th of July right through the 22nd, are plagued by poor conditions, with the wind mostly cross-on or cross-off, keeping the surface all chopped up and lumpy. The swell is tiny, mostly around 2ft to 5ft, but it’s weak and messy, with combined swell energy hitting a low of 31 (weak energy) on Monday morning and only peaking at 489 (moderate energy) on Wednesday morning, but even that’s a messy, short-period windswell. The wave comment is just "poor surf conditions" across the board, and the scores are flat zeros. It’s a tough start.

The middle of the week, from the 23rd of July, the energy drops back down. We get a bit of cross-shore wind on the morning of the 23rd, but the swell is a paltry 3ft from the SSE with a period of 8 seconds, and the combined energy is only 218 (moderate energy). It’s still not enough to get excited about, and the afternoon sees it all go cross-on again. The rest of the week stays pitiful, with swell heights barely reaching 4ft and the wind spoiling any chance of a clean face.

Now, moving into the second week, from the 28th of July onwards, we get some cleaner mornings with light cross-off winds, but the swell is gone. On the 28th, we’re looking at 3ft from the S, and by the 30th of July it’s a pathetic 1ft. The combined swell energy is in the gutter, between 23 and 71 (weak energy). The morning of the 31st of July is glassy, with the wind dropping to just 3 mph from the SSW, but the swell is a non-existent 1ft. It’s a total flat spell.

The only real standout, if you can call it that, is the morning of Wednesday the 22nd of July. We get a 6ft swell from the S, with a period of 8 seconds. The combined swell energy hits 489 (moderate energy), and the wind is a clean cross-off from the WSW at 16 mph. At Castles, a sandbar break, this could offer some clean, albeit still short-period, surf. The 6ft is on the edge of being too big for beginners, but for the average surfer, it’s the only window of manageable size. But honestly, the quality score is still a "0", and the wave comment says "poor surf conditions". It’s just the best of a bad bunch.

The second week offers nothing. The 1st and 2nd of August have glassy conditions on the 2nd morning, but the swell is a tiny 3ft from the SSW with a pathetic 5-second period, and combined energy of just 75 (weak energy). The 3rd and 4th of August have a bit more size, hitting 5ft on the 3rd afternoon, but it’s all cross-on wind and choppy conditions. The combined energy gets up to 196 (moderate energy), but it’s still poor quality.

In short, this is a blank run. For an area like this, it’s not unusual to see a run of small, wind-affected conditions. For the seasoned surfer, the morning of the 22nd of July is the only window worth a look, but don’t hold your breath. The rest of the forecast is a long, painful wait for something that never comes.

Rusty.

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