Ekas-Outside Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, ol’ Rusty here. Gotta be straight with ya – this 16-day stretch for Ekas-Outside is a bit of a head-scratcher. The whole story is one of “almost there.” We get a solid pulse of long-period groundswell, but the wind is rarely kind enough to let us really enjoy it. This isn’t the usual clean, perfect line-up you might be dreaming of, but if you’re patient and hungry, there are a couple of windows worth waiting for.

Right off the bat, there’s no surf worth paddling for the first couple of mornings. The first real swell kicks in hard on Friday the 10th with a 6 ft SW groundswell packing a big 16-second period and a combined energy of 1836 – that’s proper power. Thing is, the wind is chewing it up at 15-19 mph out of the ESE-SE. It’s cross-off, not terrible, but definitely not the glass we want. The wave comment calls it marginal, and for a reef break like this, it’ll be lumpy and tough to find a clean face. Saturday the 11th sees a drop to 5 ft with a 15-second period, but by afternoon it’s fading fast under more stiff side-wind. Honestly, this whole first weekend is a write-off unless you absolutely have to get wet.

Now pay attention here. Tuesday morning the 14th is where things get a little interesting. We’ve got a 6 ft SSW groundswell, pushing a 17-second period and combined energy of 2035 – that’s a serious injection of ocean energy. This is definitely expert territory with size over 5 ft, and the period is so long (over 15 seconds) that it’ll be ripping down the reef. It won’t be clean, but there will be waves. The wind is cross-off again, but the wave comment still says “marginal” due to tide. For a big-wave charger, Tuesday morning (14th) is your best bet of the first week.

There’s a bit of a lull from the 16th onward. Swell hangs around, but it’s fading and the wind stays up. One peculiar spike on the 20th – a 7 ft SSW swell on Monday morning with energy of 2036 – looks promising on paper, but again, it’s cross-off and the comment confirms it’s marginal. Thursday the 23rd is weird: a short-period 6 ft, 7-second SE windswell in the morning. That’s sloppy, mushy stuff and not a groundswell. That afternoon a 3 ft SW swell with a 21-second period hits – long period, great shape, but too small to be worth hunting.

Alright, now for the real standout. You gotta hold out until Friday the 24th of July. That morning is our golden ticket. We get a 5 ft SW groundswell, period of 16 seconds, combined energy of 1357 – solid moderate energy. But the wind… oh, the wind drops to a light 6 mph breeze out of the SE. That’s as close to glassy as this stretch gets. The wave comment says *excellent surf conditions for experienced surfers*. At 5 ft it’s not too big, but the long period means it’ll be powerful. It’s the cleanest, best-shaped window we have. That Friday morning is *it*. After that, Saturday the 25th morning still offers a little 5 ft SW swell with gentle breeze, so you could get a couple more before it fully drops. That’s your call.

Summing it up: a whole lot of frustrating swell with side-wind, and one perfect little slot on Friday the 24th morning. The combined energy values are in the thousands for most of the main swells, so the ocean is full of power – it just won’t cooperate until that final morning. Crowds are listed as "sometimes" here, but on that Friday with a little bit of sun, I'd expect some company. It’s a reef break, so it handles the long period better than a beach would.

Stay patient, wait for the glass, and you’ll score.

- Rusty

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