81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at the only game in town for the next couple of weeks. It's a quiet stretch, so don't expect much.

Alright, first things first. The water's sittin' at about 80°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year. Not a bad thing for a session, if there were any waves to speak of.

We've got a long dry spell ahead. From now, right through the rest of August, there's nothing worth paddling out for at 81st Street. The swell barely gettin' its feet wet, with heights crawlin' from a tiny 0.7 ft up to maybe 4 ft on the 20th of August, but it's messy. The wave energy is weak as weak can be, mostly sitting between 6 and 29 (combined energy), which is barely enough to ruffle the surface.

Swell direction is mostly from the Southeast or South-Southeast, with short periods between 3 and 9 seconds for most of this stretch. That's just windswell junk, nothing with any push behind it. There are a couple of days you might squint at, like Thursday the 21st of August. There's a clean morning session with light cross-offshore winds and a tiny 1 ft swell, and the energy bumps to 63. But "surfable but very ordinary" is the truth of it. You'd be workin' hard for ankle-snappers. The same goes for Sunday the 24th of August and Monday the 25th – clean enough wind and 1 ft to 2 ft of swell, but those wave readings tell the story: you'd be bobbin' around hoping for a bump. The 23rd of August gives us a glassy morning with 2 ft from the SE, but the energy is still just 47.

Forget the afternoons. The wind swings onshore or cross-shore more often than not, turning what little there is into chop. The one potential highlight is the 20th of August. The swell pushes up to 4 ft from the Southeast with a moderate wave energy of 234 and a period of 10 seconds, but the wind is a moderate cross-onshore breeze. That’s choppy and junky.

Crowds on those "good" mornings? This spot can get 'em sometimes, but with waves this small, I doubt you'll see many takers. This is an inconsistent break, and for this entire 16-day run, it's barely showing its face.

If you're a kite surfer, the afternoon winds on the 21st (fresh cross-shore at 18 mph) might be more your speed, but this is a write-off for a paddle surfer. There's simply no swell.

It is what it is, fellas. A blank run like this is more normal for the area when the ocean just shuts down. Forecasts can change, but right now, you might as well wax up the longboard and just get a tan.

Rusty.

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