Crantock Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the table for the next couple of weeks.

To be straight with you, it's a long, frustrating run ahead. Right from the Thursday morning start on the 10th of September, we’ve got a 3ft WSW swell with a short, weak 6-second period, and a cross-off wind that’s trying to clean it up, but the combined energy is only 81 – that’s weak. The water temp is about average for this time of year, nothing weird there. But the bottom line: the whole day is written off as poor surf, and the whole first week barely gets a sniff. Thursday afternoon jumps to 7ft on a messy 8-second period and 22 mph cross-off wind – that’s just lumpy junk with moderate energy (496). Friday morning clears up with a light 6 mph onshore wind, and you get a long-period 5ft groundswell (9 seconds) and decent energy (373), but it’s still listed as poor surf. Friday afternoon the same. Saturday and Sunday keep that same story – onshore winds, cross-shore chop, and poor conditions. The score never gets off zero until Tuesday the 15th of September.

Now on Tuesday the 15th, we finally get a little glimmer. Morning session shows a 5ft W swell, 10-second period, clean cross-off wind from the SSW at 12 mph, and moderate energy at 432. This one gets a score of 1, meaning marginal surf – maybe you can scratch out a couple if the tide lines up. But don’t get your hopes up; the afternoon swings back to onshore junk. Then we hit a dead zone through to the 20th. The 20th of September throws up a big 10ft NW swell with 8-second period and very strong energy (1055 in the morning, 1101 in the afternoon), but that’s cross-on wind and choppy – no good for a normal board, but that kind of power with onshore wind at Crantock makes it more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle day.

Crantock is a river break, fairly consistent, but sheltered. It takes a clean westerly swell with offshore wind to really shine. What we’re seeing here is a lot of north and north-west wind, and the swell direction that suits it best is west, which we do get, but the wind is just wrong.

The best call in this whole 16-day run is Tuesday the 22nd of September. We get a 7ft W swell with an 11-second period – that’s proper groundswell. Combined energy is strong at 1005, and morning winds are a moderate cross-shore from the WSW. It’s marginal, but for this spot it’s the standout. After that, the 23rd and 24th keep 5ft to 6ft swell but with onshore wind. The 24th has a very long 15-second period swell, but again cross-on wind – that’s going to be straight and hard to ride here.

Honestly, mate, if you’re desperate, pencil in that Tuesday the 15th morning for a chance at something rideable, and keep an eye on the 22nd morning. But this is one of those runs where the ocean is being stubborn. It tends not to stay this poor for long, so forecasts can change – but right now, it’s a grind.

Rusty.

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