Crab Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – the next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for a proper paddle.

The first actual chance of anything half-decent comes in on Thursday, August 13, but it's a tough sell. We're looking at Crab Island early that morning with a 4ft swell from the WSW at a clean 10-second period. The water’s a touch warmer than normal at 62°, but this is an advanced reef break and the winds are blowing cross-shore with a light 6 mph breeze. It's not the worst you'll see, but the combined wave energy is weak (294), and the outlook says conditions are marginal. Honestly, for an advanced spot, you need more juice and cleaner wind.

From Thursday afternoon all the way through to Friday, August 21, it's basically a write-off. The winds turn onshore or cross-onshore, the swell drops off to knee-high mush, and the energy readings stay in the low double digits or triple digits with weak to moderate energy at best. You'll see a lot of "poor surf conditions" and a lot of zeros in the score. It's going to be choppy, lumpy, and not worth the paddle out for most of us.

Then, around Friday, August 21, things start to look a tiny bit more interesting in the morning. The wind finally swings to a cross-offshore from the NE at a light 9 mph, cleaning up a small 2ft W swell (9-second period). The energy is still weak (89), but it's clean. Then on Saturday, August 22, the swell bumps up to a 4ft from the west (8 seconds) with a glassy 3 mph SE cross-offshore breeze in the morning. The combined energy climbs to 166, which is moderate. This is probably the best window of the whole forecast. It's not big, it's not powerful, but for a reef break, that light offshore wind could make it fun and workable. The crowds are "often" here, so expect company.

After that, it slides back into the doldrums. Sunday the 23rd has a similar 4ft W swell (9 seconds) but with rain and a moderate cross-offshore from the SE at 12 mph, giving us a moderate wave energy (224). But then the swells just fade into nothing. From Monday, August 24, right through to the end of the forecast, the swell drops to 2ft or less, with the energy reading under 60. The wind is offshore but it's blowing a gale – 25 mph from the NE on Tuesday and Wednesday – making it clean but completely blown out for surfing. You could probably set a kite up in that, and that's about it.

The very end of the run, around Thursday, August 27 and Friday the 28th, gives us a little flicker of hope. The swell picks back up to 4ft from the W (8 seconds) with clean cross-offshore winds from the ENE and NE, pushing the combined energy into the moderate 217–239 range. But the outlook still says "marginal surf forecast or questionable tide conditions." So, it's a "maybe" at best – a long-range promise that might not deliver.

The standout call here, if you're desperate for a wave, is Saturday, August 22 morning at Crab Island. It’s the cleanest, most promising window with that light offshore breeze and a bit of size. The rest of it is a long, flat, or choppy wait.

Rusty.

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