Coombesgate Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – this next couple of weeks is a tough one for the north Norfolk coast. The only spot we’ve got to look at is Coombesgate Beach, and honestly, it’s not firing. We’ve got a long stretch of nothing worth paddling out for, so let’s get into it.

Right now and for the first several days, there’s just no surf to speak of. The swell is tiny and the wind is on it or cross-on it most of the time. Wednesday the 5th sees a 5ft swell from the west, but it’s short-period windswell at 7 seconds and the wind is howling onshore at 19 mph, making it a messy, choppy affair. The water is sitting at 66°F, which is a whopping 4°F warmer than usual for this time of year – that’s much warmer than normal, so you’ll be comfortable temperature-wise, but there’s no wave quality to enjoy. The combined energy is 236, which is moderate, but all that energy is wasted in the poor conditions.

The flat spell really sets in from Thursday the 6th right through until the morning of Tuesday the 12th. Swells drop to under 3ft, sometimes just a few inches, and the wind is either onshore or too light to do anything useful. You’ll see a glassy morning on the 7th and 8th, but with a swell of just 0.7ft, it’s a lake, not a surf break. The combined energy readings are in the single digits to low 20s – that’s weak, weak energy.

Things start to look a bit more promising from the afternoon of Wednesday the 12th, but it’s still not great. On Thursday the 13th morning, we finally get a score of 1/10, which is the best of the whole run. There’s a 3ft swell from the west-southwest, with a period of 9 seconds, and the wind is a clean cross-offshore at 9 mph. The combined energy hits 122, which is moderate, and the conditions are clean. It’s surfable, but just barely. If you’re desperate for a splash, this is your window. The swell direction is a bit off the optimum west-northwest, but it’s the pick of a very poor bunch.

After that, it’s back to poor conditions. The afternoon of the 13th brings a 4ft west swell, but the wind swings onshore and the energy jumps to 478, but it’s all messy. Then we get a run of cross-onshore winds and choppy seas through to the 16th, with swell dropping back under 3ft.

The end of the run, on Monday the 17th, looks like a different beast entirely, but it’s not good for paddling. The morning brings a 13ft west swell, with a period of 11 seconds and a combined energy of 3479 – that’s very strong, powerful wave energy. But the wind is a fresh onshore at 19 mph, so it’s going to be a washing machine. This is big, raw, and blown out. For a beach and reef setup like Coombesgate, that’s more likely to be a kite-surfing session than a surf session. The swell then drops to 10ft in the afternoon, still with onshore wind, so it’s big and ugly.

The last few days of the outlook, from the 18th to the 20th, settle back into small, onshore slop. There’s nothing to get excited about.

So, the bottom line: the only real nod for a surf in the whole 16 days is the morning of Thursday the 13th of August. It’s not a standout, it’s just the least bad. For the rest, it’s a blank run. The area is fairly consistent normally, so this is a poor spell, but it won’t last forever. Keep an eye on the charts, because when it turns, it’ll turn.

Rusty.

Read more