Croatan Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s take a look at what the next couple of weeks have in store for us here. To be straight with you, this stretch starts off pretty quiet for Croatan.

The first week or so is a real slow burn. We’re looking at a long gap where the surf is just not happening – tiny scraps of swell up to maybe 2ft and wonky winds mean it’s pretty much flat to poor through the 24th all the way to the end of August. You’d be wasting your time paddling out. Combined energy readings are low, often in the 20s or 30s, which tells you there’s not much push.

There’s a glimmer on Thursday afternoon the 27th with a tiny 3ft SSE swell and a short 5 second period, but it’s got a light SSW breeze making it clean, and the energy is only 93. It’s surfable but very ordinary.

Things start to look more interesting as we head into the first week of September. There’s a proper pulse of energy building. On Monday the 1st of September, there’s some decent energy starting to show up, with a 2ft easterly swell with a 14 second period and a combined energy of 126 (moderate wave energy) in the afternoon, though it’s cross-on shore. The next day, Wednesday morning the 2nd, has a clean 2ft E swell with 12 seconds and a WSW offshore breeze in the afternoon – that’s a touch of hope.

But the real standout, the one to circle on your calendar, is the morning of Monday the 7th of September. We get cross-off winds from the SSW with a slight air, giving us clean conditions, and a solid 4ft easterly swell with an 8 second period. The combined energy is a solid 261, which is moderate. That’s the best-looking session in the whole run. For a beach/jetty setup like Croatan, having that cross-off wind is a score; it should offer some clean little lines.

Right before that, on Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th of September, there is a big lump of ENE swell pushing 8ft and 8ft, with strong energy readings over 900 (strong wave energy). However, it’s a short period windswell of 8-9 seconds with a fresh breeze, making it a messy, powerful beast. At that size and with that onshore component, it’s really only one for the experts and honestly might be more suited to a kite surfer than a paddle surfer. The water temp is sitting at 80°F, which is about 2°F warmer than average for this time of year – nice and warm for a late summer session.

So, to sum it up: you wait, you wait, and then that Monday morning on the 7th of September is your best bet for a clean, fun wave at Croatan.

Rusty.

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