Depressions Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s see what’s on the cards for the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you: it’s a grim stretch. We’re looking at a solid run of weak, gutless surf with onshore winds mucking things up. The whole first week is basically a write-off. From the 5th of August right through to the 10th, the swell is tiny, mostly around 1ft to 2ft, and the wind is either cross or cross-onshore from the SSE or WSW. The water is a bizarre 70°F – that’s a massive 7°F warmer than normal, which is very unusual for this time of year at Depressions, but it won’t help the waves one bit. The combined energy is barely a whisper, with values like 88 and 85, so don’t bother paddling out.

The situation finally changes on the morning of Tuesday the 11th. The wind goes glassy – finally, a bit of clean surface – but the swell is still only 1ft from the SSW with a period of 13 seconds. It’s surfable, but very ordinary. The energy is still weak at 115. That’s the only real window of clean conditions in the first week, and it’s tiny. There’s a significant gap of poor surf from the 6th through the 10th before you even get to this.

Things get a bit more interesting heading into the second week, but it’s still a tough call. The swell picks up into the 2ft to 3ft range from the SSW, and the energy climbs into the moderate range (between 253 and 409). The wind is still mostly onshore or cross-onshore, though, so it’s going to be bumpy. The morning of Friday the 14th has a decent 1ft SSW swell with a very long period of 19 seconds and a light onshore wind, but that’s not ideal for a beach break like Depressions – that long period stuff will want to break straight. The energy is 259 there.

The real standout, if you can call it that, is the morning of Saturday the 15th of August. We’ve got a 3ft SSW swell with a period of 16 seconds, light cross-onshore wind from the south at only 3 mph, and the energy is a solid 350. It’s the most promising size and period combo of the whole run, but it’s still marginal and the conditions are only labeled as "marginal surf forecast or questionable tide conditions." It’s not a classic, but it’s the best we’ve got.

Later in the run, on the 17th and 18th, we get a different swell direction with a 6ft to 8ft WNW swell, but the period is a windy 6 to 7 seconds and the wind is a moderate 12 to 16 mph cross-onshore. That’s going to be a choppy, blown-out mess – more interesting for the kite surfers than a paddle surfer chasing a clean wave. The energy is strong though, hitting 642 on the 18th afternoon.

Bottom line: this is a pretty poor outlook. The only chance of a decent surf is the glassy morning of the 11th for a tiny clean wave, or the morning of the 15th for the best swell size and energy, but the onshore wind will still be messing with it. Keep your expectations on the floor.

Rusty.

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