Crooklets-Bude Surf Forecast and Surf Report

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

Honestly, it’s a tough stretch for Crooklets-Bude. The whole 16-day window is pretty much a write-off for decent surf. The water is sitting at 66° and that’s a solid 4° warmer than usual for this time of year, so you’ll notice the bathwater feel if you do get in, but the waves just aren’t cooperating.

There’s a big gap right from the start. The first few days, from Monday the 17th through to the end of the week, are all poor. The swell is weak and choppy, with combined wave energy staying low to moderate – a lot of it in the 60 to 324 range, which is just not doing anything. The wind is junk, mostly onshore or cross-onshore from the west and northwest, blowing the surface apart. On Thursday the 20th, there’s some waist-high swell around 4 ft to 5 ft from the WNW, but with a fresh cross-onshore breeze, it’s just a messy, lumpy affair.

Friday the 21st morning offers a tiny glimpse of hope. The wind goes light and cross-offshore from the NE, and the swell drops to 2 ft from the west at 8 seconds. The energy is only 72, so it’s barely surfable, but it’ll be clean. That’s about as good as it gets for the first week. Saturday the 22nd morning has a similar clean look with 3 ft from the NNW, but again, the energy is low (98) and it’s not going to be any kind of classic.

Then we hit a real flat spell. From Sunday the 23rd through to Tuesday the 26th of August, the swell drops to barely a ripple – 1.0 ft or less, with combined energy way down in the single digits or teens. The wind is sometimes light and clean, but there’s just no swell to work with.

The only thing that might perk up some interest is the very end of the forecast. By Friday the 28th of August morning, the swell jumps to 6 ft from the west with a period of 10 seconds, and the combined energy shoots up to 635 – that’s moderate to strong energy. But the wind is light onshore, and the comment says “marginal surf forecast or questionable tide conditions.” It’s not a green light, but it’s the first sniff of proper groundswell we’ve had. Saturday the 29th keeps the swell around 5 ft to 6 ft from the west, but the wind turns cross-onshore and fresh, so it’ll be chopped up. The best of the late period might be Tuesday the 1st of September morning, with 4 ft from the west at 10 seconds and a moderate onshore wind – it’s still messy, but the energy is a solid 348.

Overall, this is a poor run. Crooklets-Bude is a fairly exposed beginner-friendly spot, and it’s fairly consistent usually, but this stretch is a dud. The wind is almost always onshore or cross-onshore, and the swell windows are either too small or too blown out. If you’re a kiter, the windy afternoons with 5 ft+ swell might be more interesting, but for paddle surfing, it’s a long wait for very little reward.

Rusty.

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