El Balneario Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, I’m Rusty. Let’s have a look at what’s coming up for El Balneario over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – it’s a pretty bleak run for the first week or so. The surf is tiny, the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, and honestly, between Thursday the 20th of August and Thursday the 27th of August, it’s just one poor surf condition after another. We’re looking at ankle-to-knee-high slop, mostly around 1 ft to 3 ft, coming from the W or WSW, with short, weak periods of 4 to 6 seconds. The combined energy is feeble, reading between 4 and 73 – just not enough push to do anything worthwhile. Winds are from the W and WSW, blowing onshore or cross-onshore, so it’s choppy and messy. That glassy morning on Sunday the 23rd of August with 1 ft and no wind is a tease, but the swell is so tiny it’s barely a ripple. Even the water is a bit colder than usual for this time of year at 71°.

Now, things start to look a bit more interesting come the weekend of the 29th of August. Saturday morning the 29th of August, we get our first hint of clean conditions. The wind swings around to a gentle offshore from the ENE at 9 mph, and we’ve got 2 ft of swell from the W with a 6-second period. The combined energy is a modest 40, so it’s not pumping, but it’s clean and surfable. The water temp anomaly isn’t mentioned later on, so it’s about average for then. El Balneario is an exposed beach break that faces WSW, and with the optimum swell direction from WSW, this W swell is a bit off-angle but still wraps in. For a beginner spot that’s fairly consistent, this is the pick of the early period – small, clean, and user-friendly, though the crowds come sometimes. It’s not going to blow anyone away, but it’s the best we’ve got.

Sunday the 30th of August keeps that offshore flow going, ENE at 16 mph, with 3 ft of W swell and 6-second period. Combined energy is 51. Still ordinary but clean and ridable. Monday the 31st of August is similar, with light ENE offshore winds at 9 mph and 3 ft from the WNW, and the energy bumps up to 95 – the highest so far. That’s the standout session in this whole run: clean, small, and with the best energy of the window. It’s not big, but for a beginner-friendly spot, it’s about as good as it gets here.

After that, we drift back into mediocrity. Tuesday the 1st of September has onshore wind again, and Wednesday the 2nd of September has a glassy morning with 2 ft but weak energy at 42. Thursday the 3rd of September brings strong offshore winds from the E at 19 mph, but the swell is only 2 ft with an 8-second period – cleaner but still small. Friday the 4th of September is more of the same: small and clean offshore, but nothing exciting.

Overall, the only real standouts are Monday the 31st of August morning and afternoon – clean, small, and with the best push of the whole 16 days. It’s not a firing season, but if you’ve got a log or a funboard, that’s your window. The rest is mostly a write-off.

Rusty.

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