Cuyagua Surf Forecast and Surf Report

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

First up, I gotta be straight with you: this stretch of coast is in a bit of a flat, messy spell. The water temp is sitting at a warm 83°F with basically no anomaly, so it's pretty average for the time of year – nothing to write home about. Looking at the whole run, there’s not a single day that gets more than a marginal nod, and most of the time it's poor surf conditions. We’re looking at a long, frustrating run here. The best chance of anything half-decent comes towards the end of the second week.

For the first several days, you’ve got small, short-period windswell bumping in from the ENE, all below 5 ft with periods of only 5-7 seconds. The wind is mostly cross or cross-onshore from the same direction, which just chops it up. It’s no good for a paddle. Combined wave energy is weak to moderate at best, mostly in the double digits or low triple digits (156, 224, 180 etc). Honestly, this setup looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a traditional surfer for a lot of the first week.

Tuesday, 7th of September afternoon does catch the eye with a jump in size to 7 ft from the ENE, but it’s still short period (7 seconds) with a cross-shore wind. The energy jumps up (408), but the quality comment is still poor. That’s a lot of water moving but it’s going to be a crumbly, choppy mess – only for the experts, and even then, it’s not going to be pretty. A couple of mornings around the 8th to the 10th see the swell sit between 6 ft and 6 ft with light variable winds, which is the closest we get to a window.

Monday morning, 14th of September is the one standout. Now, this is nearly two weeks out, so take it with a grain of salt, but the forecast shows a small 5 ft ENE swell with glassy conditions. A light WNW wind of 5 km/h gives us "glass" on the report. The combined energy is moderate at 160. It’s small, but that glassy window means Cuyagua’s reef setup could clean up those weak 6-second waves into something rideable. It’s the only time in the whole 16 days the word "glassy" pops up, and for a reef break, that’s gold. That morning is the only real chance for a fun, clean session. But with the swell being so short-period (6 seconds), it’s going to be weak, so you’ll need a log.

The rest of the forecast is pretty much a write-off. We get another slight bump around the 12th and 13th, with 5 ft to 6 ft swells, but the conditions are still tagged as marginal or poor. By the 15th and 16th, it’s almost flat again with 3 ft junk.

So, the honest truth is: this is a long, dry spell. The only flicker of hope is that glassy Monday morning on the 14th. It’s not a classic, but in a run like this, you take what you can get. Keep an eye on the long-range for that one.

Rusty.

Read more