81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I've gotta be straight with you. Looking at the charts for 81st Street over the next couple of weeks, it's a pretty grim picture. We're staring down a long, dry spell with barely a ripple worth getting wet for.

The water temp is sitting at 80°F, which is about average for this time of year, so you won't need a thick suit, but honestly, you won't need a board either for most of this run.

The first real glimmer of anything happens way down the line. From now until the 27th of August, it's a total write-off. We're talking 16 days of tiny, weak swell. The combined energy is mostly in the teens or low double digits (12 to 90), which is pitifully weak. The swell heights are all under 3 ft, mostly hanging around 0.7 ft to 2 ft, and the period is all over the place, often short and weak. The wind is a mess too, mostly cross-shore or cross-onshore, making everything choppy and lumpy. There's a couple of days with clean conditions, like the 20th and 21st, but with only 0.7 ft to 1.0 ft of weak swell, it's not surfable.

It's not until the morning of Thursday, 27th August, that we get a tiny pulse. The swell bumps up to 1 ft from the ESE, with a period of 10 seconds. The combined energy hits 44, which is still very weak. But the wind is glassy, dead calm. The guidance says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions," and that's about the best compliment we can give it. It's a long way off, but it's the only window that even gets a score of 1 out of 10. The morning of the 28th also looks clean with a light cross-offshore wind, but again, it's the same tiny, weak swell.

So, to be honest, there's no standout session here. The 27th morning is the closest thing to a good option, but I'd be calling it a "novelty surf" at best. For the rest of the time, save yourself the drive and the disappointment. The forecast is consistently poor, and with the wind being so messy, the setup at 81st Street looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer during the stronger wind days.

Keep an eye on things, but for now, I'd say this is a blank run. Forecasts can change, but it's gonna take a miracle.

Rusty.

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