81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let's get this straight. The next couple of weeks are going to be a real test of patience around here. There’s simply nothing on the table that’s going to get the heart pumping, and honestly, for the next week, you might as well wax the board and leave it in the car. It's gonna be a desert.

The first real chance of anything even resembling a wave shows up on Sunday, September 20th. The morning will see a small, weak 3ft easterly bump pushing through, but the real highlight is that offshore southwest wind, keeping things clean. It's not going to be epic, but it’s the first surfable, if very ordinary, option we’ve seen. The energy is weak, only 67 on the dial. It’s something, but just barely.

Then we hit another dry spell. The surf pretty much flatlines through Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. There’s a pulse of energy on Tuesday the 22nd, with the swell bumping up to 5ft, but it’s coming from the ENE with a short, crumbly 6-second period, and there’s a risk of thunderstorms and onshore wind. It’s going to be a messy, blown-out mess, a real chore to surf.

We get another clean-ish window on Thursday the 24th. The morning is small, just 2ft, but light west-southwest winds will have it looking tidy. It’s still tiny, unfortunately. Nothing to get excited about.

Friday the 25th sees the swell jump back up to 5ft, with a cross-offshore northwest wind keeping the surface clean. But the period is a dismal 5 seconds, meaning it’ll be soft, lumpy, and without any real push. The energy, at 107, is moderate, but it’s just not a surfer’s wave.

The following week – the period from the 26th of September into the 30th – is where things get properly interesting, but for the wrong reasons. The swell starts building, and by Wednesday the 30th, we’re looking at a 6ft NE swell with a moderate energy of 410. The problem? It’s accompanied by a strong onshore wind. This is not going to be a clean, organized swell. This is going to be a full-on, wind-blown mess, with short, steep, sectiony waves. For a beginner, anything over 5ft is already too much. For the experts who might be tempted, 6ft of onshore slop isn’t a reward, it’s a punishment. Honestly, with that much wind and that kind of short period swell, this setup looks like it’s going to be more fun for the kite crew than anyone paddling out. It’s just not worth it.

So, the bottom line: there’s nothing here that’s worth calling a standout. The best of a bad bunch is the clean but tiny window on Sunday morning the 20th. It’s a session for getting wet and standing up, not for chasing barrels. After that, it’s a waiting game. The surf will come back, but the forecast for this period is a cold, hard promise of frustration.

-Rusty

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