Coffee Break Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you about the next couple of weeks around Coffee Break. It's not looking great, but I'll walk you through the whole 16-day run so you know what you're dealing with.

First up, the water temp at Coffee Break is sitting at about 84°, which is basically dead normal for this time of year, so no surprises on that front.

Right now, the pattern is locked in a consistent but frustrating state. For the entire stretch starting today, the 15th of September, all the way through to the 24th of September in the morning, it's pretty much all poor surf conditions. The swell is there, mostly around 2 ft to 5 ft but it's all short-period windswell coming from the East, with periods mostly between 4 and 9 seconds. The big problem is the wind – it’s almost always a cross-shore breeze or a cross-off at best, and even when it's light, the wave comment is consistently "poor surf conditions." The combined energy is mostly weak to moderate, but it doesn't matter when the quality is this bad. For the first week, there's no standout session. The best you can hope for is a gentle cross-shore with slight cross-chop, but that's still a pass from me.

Now, there’s a small window late on the 24th of September – the Thursday morning. We get a little 1 ft swell from the NE with a much longer 13-second period, and the wind goes light from the ESE, turning cross-off and making things clean. The wave comment says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions" and the energy is weak. It's an improvement, but it's not anything to write home about.

After that, from Thursday afternoon through the end of the month, we go right back into the same old story: poor surf conditions, cross-shore winds, and tiny, short-period swell that rarely pushes past 4 ft, with combined energy values mostly in the weak to low-moderate range. The morning of the 29th of September shows a bump to 5 ft swell on Tuesday afternoon, but again, it's cross-shore wind and the wave comment is poor. Nothing to get excited about.

So here’s the bottom line: There is no standout session in this entire 16-day window. For the next 10 days, it's a near-total wall of "poor surf conditions." If you absolutely have to get wet, the cleanest conditions will be the morning of the 24th of September, with that small NE groundswell and light wind, but don't expect much. For a reef break like Coffee Break, that longer period NE swell (13 seconds) could actually shape up alright, but the size is tiny. Crows are listed as "sometimes," so you might find a few others with the same desperate hope. If you're a beginner, the swell rarely pushes above 5 ft, so the size isn't an issue, but the messiness of the waves is.

Honestly, this run looks more interesting for kite surfing with the consistent side-breeze and chop than for paddle surfing. It tends not to stay this poor forever, so check back in a week. The forecasts can change.

- Rusty

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