Cottons Point Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s take a good hard look at what’s on the cards for the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you: the first few days are a bit of a write-off. We’ve got a gentle but persistent cross-onshore breeze messing up a small, long-period swell from the SW. The water is sitting at 71° which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, so you won’t need a thick suit, but you *will* need patience. The energy is weak, around 200 (combined energy), and the surf is plain poor. Hold your horses.

Come Thursday the 18th and Friday the 19th, things start to stir. We see the swell bumping up a bit from the SW and S, with the combined energy climbing into the mid-to-high hundreds. The wind eases right off, turning light and onshore or cross-onshore, which is a big improvement. The surf is still a bit marginal, but Saturday morning the 19th sees the best of it with 5ft of S swell, light offshore wind, and solid energy (1308). That’s the pick of the first week, a real standout for the experienced crew. Sunday afternoon gets a bit bigger at 6ft, but that’s pushing into expert territory, and the period drops a bit.

The middle of the week from Monday the 21st to Wednesday the 23rd is a bit of a letdown. The swell drops back to 3ft, the wind picks up from the west, and it gets choppy. The energy is moderate, but the quality isn’t there. A bit of a lull.

Now, the second week shows some promise from the 24th to the 28th. The swell hangs around 3ft to 5ft, mostly from the SSW and S, with periods stretching out to 19 seconds – that’s proper groundswell. The combined energy is consistently in the four-digit range, meaning strong, punchy waves. The winds are light, mostly from the SW or W, which is a good sign. Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th of July are the real standouts here: 5ft of S swell with a 13-second period on Friday, and 3ft of SW swell with a very long 21-second period on Saturday. That Saturday morning, the energy is 1244, and the light cross-onshore wind will keep things clean. The very long period means these waves will be better on the point and reef sections of Cottons Point, not so much the beach. It’s a bit of a gamble at that range, but it looks fantastic.

After that, the swell backs off into the end of the month, with the energy dropping back into the 400-700 range and the wind turning more southerly and cross-onshore. The last few days of July look like we’re back to small, choppy, and poor conditions.

So, to wrap it up, the best windows are Saturday morning the 19th, and then the Friday and Saturday of the 25th and 26th of July. That’s where the energy, the swell direction, and the light wind all line up. It’s still a bit of a long-range promise, but it’s the best we’ve got.

Rusty.

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