81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, looking at the surf outlook for 81st Street. Let's cut through the numbers and get to what matters.

Straight up, it's a pretty bleak 16-day window for 81st Street. The whole period is a struggle, with only a couple of tiny windows where the waves are even surfable. We've got a long dry spell of nothing much happening from now right through until the start of the second week.

The first hint of something worth a look comes on the morning of Tuesday, the 4th of August. We are talking about a small, weak pulse of swell, only 2ft from the SE, but the wind is forecast to be offshore from the WSW. That offshore wind is the only thing making this spot happen, giving it a clean look. It's an exposed spot, so it catches everything, but with combined wave energy at only 47, that's weak. The afternoon gets a touch bigger at 3ft from the SSE, but still very ordinary, with a score of just 1 out of 10. Don't expect much; it's for the die-hards.

After that, it's back to very poor conditions for days on end. The swell all but disappears, with heights dropping to 1ft or less, and the wind is mostly cross or cross-off, not quite what you need to make this break work. It's a real scratch-fest.

The bit of hope, and the only real standout in the whole window, is the morning of Saturday, the 15th of August. We’ve got a glassy sea with a light 5 mph wind from the NE. The swell is a modest 2ft from the SE, but that glassy, clean surface is a major win. For a break that’s already inconsistent, catching one of those clean little runners will be all about patience and positioning. There will be no crowds though, as everyone else has probably written the week off. It's a very small, clean window, keep your expectations low.

Finally, the morning of Sunday, the 16th of August, brings a slight bump with swell from the NE at 2ft, again with light cross-off winds, giving us another "surfable but ordinary" window. But don't get too excited, it's not going to be anything to write home about.

The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing unusual to report there. Bottom line: if you're a beginner, the 2ft to 2ft range is fine, but the inconsistency means you'll be waiting a lot. For everyone else, bring a longboard and a lot of patience, or just wait for the next forecast.

Rusty.

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