81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I’m looking at the 16-day window for 81st Street. And straight up, the news ain’t good. This is looking like a long, flat spell where the ocean just doesn’t want to play ball.

We’re kicking off with a tough start. The forecast shows a prolonged gap with no real surf to get excited about. For the first several days, we’re seeing tiny, weak waves with poor conditions. The combined swell energy is low, sitting at just 122 on Monday afternoon, and it only gets weaker from there. The wind is a mess, mostly cross-onshore or onshore, making it choppy and ugly. The water temperature is sitting at 80°, which is a touch warmer than usual for this time of year, but that’s about the only thing that’s slightly out of the ordinary.

We’re looking at days of nothing. The swell is under 2 ft, the period is short, and the energy is in the double digits for the most part. It’s not until the tail end of the first week, Saturday afternoon, July 18th, that we see a pulse of 4 ft, but it’s from the SSE with a tiny 5-second period and a 19 mph cross-offshore wind. That’s not surf, that’s a washing machine. It’s messy, and the combined energy of 66 is still weak.

The only real glimmer, and I mean a tiny one, comes on Sunday, July 19th. For the afternoon, we get a clean 2 ft swell from the SSE with a 7-second period and a gentle offshore wind from the WSW. The energy bumps up to 59, and the conditions are described as "surfable waves but very ordinary." It’s not a standout, but it’s the only time the forecast gives us a score of 1 out of 10. It’s clean, but it’s small. For a beginner, that 2 ft is fine, but it’s inconsistent and the crowds can be around sometimes.

Then it’s right back to the doldrums. The second week is a wasteland. There’s a little spike of energy on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 21st and 22nd, with combined swell energy hitting 166 and 192, but the swell direction is all wrong—it’s coming from the NE and ENE, straight onshore, with strong winds. The period is still short, and the quality is poor. Those days are just a messy, choppy, onshore windswell. After that, it’s back to tiny 1 ft to 3 ft surf with poor conditions all the way to the end of the 16-day window.

The only other note is Tuesday morning, July 28th. We get a glassy 2 ft from the SE with no wind. It’s perfectly clean, but the swell is tiny and weak. It’s a morning for a longboard and a paddle, not a real session.

Honestly, this is a blank run. 81st Street is an inconsistent spot on a good day, and this forecast is showing a long, flat period with very little to offer. The only time you could even consider a paddle is the afternoon of July 19th, and even then, keep your expectations on the floor. For a beach break like this, the setup during the windier, bigger days looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer.

Rusty out.

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