Crackington Haven Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here, and I’ve been staring at the charts for our little corner here. It’s been a tough stretch to start, and frankly, it looks like we’re in for a pretty grim run for the next week and a half before things finally turn around.

For the first nine days, from now until mid-September, the surf at Crackington Haven is mostly a write-off. We’ve got a mix of northwest winds blowing straight onshore and a generally weak, messy swell. The wave energy barely gets into the moderate range, with values like 497 (Tuesday the 8th) dropping right off to a weak 52 (Thursday the 10th). The water temp feels pretty standard for this time of year, nothing weird going on there.

You've got waves bumping up around 6 ft on the Tuesday, but with those strong onshore winds, it’s a choppy, blown-out mess—definitely not one for the beginners. By Thursday, the swell drops to under 3 ft, and the wind switches to a cross-offshore, but there’s just no power. It’s a long, flat wait through the second week, with a few pulses of windswell on the 17th and 18th that still look pretty average due to cross-onshore conditions.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Friday the 18th of September is the one to circle on the calendar. The afternoon session at Crackington Haven is looking like the standout. The wind goes glassy—flat calm, 3 mph from the northwest—and that’s a massive tick. Swell comes in from the WNW at 4 ft, with a solid 11-second period that’ll give the waves some shape and push. Wave energy is a respectable 289, which is moderate but workable. This is a beach break, and with that longer period, it might just wall up a bit, but the glassy conditions are going to make it clean as a whistle. This is the best on offer for the whole 16-day window.

Before that, there’s a brief window on the morning of the 18th with a light SSE offshore wind and 3 ft swell, but the energy is only 171, so it’s ordinary. The 19th of September also has some clean, glassy conditions in the morning, but the swell is tiny at 3 ft.

So, short story: we endure nine days of not much through the first week, then a long gap of small, onshore junk. The one real chance to get wet and have fun is that Friday afternoon on the 18th. After that, a big northwest gale on the 21st cranks the energy up to 565, but with 28 mph onshore winds, that’s strictly for the kite surfers, not paddle craft.

Keep the faith, the glassy slot is coming.

Rusty.

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