81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for us.

Well, I gotta be straight with you – it’s a tough stretch ahead. The whole 16-day window is a bit of a flat spell. There’s no real swell to get excited about, and the wind is working against us most days. From the start, Thursday the 23rd of July right through to that Friday the 7th of August, it’s a long run of small, choppy, or just plain messy surf. You’ve got a few days in there with absolutely nothing worth paddling out for.

The first whispers of any real chance come on the morning of Tuesday the 28th of July. We get a tiny pulse of swell from the S at 2ft with a period of just 5 seconds – that’s weak, short-period stuff. The combined energy is a measly 27, so barely a ripple. But here’s the one tiny silver lining: the wind is light and offshore from the SW, so it’s clean. If you’re a beginner and you just want to sit on a longboard in the glass, it’s the only moment in the whole outlook that’s not completely blown out. That afternoon has a risk of thunderstorms, with a stronger offshore wind, but the swell drops to 1ft.

After that, it’s back to the same sad story. A little bump on the 29th of July with a 2ft SSE swell and a bit of a clean window from the NW, but it’s still tiny. The 30th and 31st are just small, cross-shore junk. Into August, the trend continues: nothing over 2ft, and the wind is either onshore or cross-shore, keeping things messy. The most promising wind comes on the 6th of August (Thursday afternoon) with a light offshore from the WSW, but the swell is barely 1ft with a combined energy of only 18. It’s clean, but it’s a lake.

Honestly, for the whole 16 days, there’s no standout. No day where you’d say, “That’s the one.” The surf is consistently poor, the energy is weak, and the breaks are inconsistent. At 81st Street, the water temp is about 80°, which is pretty normal for this time of year – nothing unusual there. But with the crowds being sometimes an issue even on small days, it’s just not worth the hassle.

This is one of those stretches where the forecast can change, so don’t write it off completely, but right now, you’re better off checking the wind forecast for a kite session than a paddle. The setup is more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Rusty.

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