El Barco Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you – the next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for a proper surf. We've got a real dry spell on the horizon, so if you're hanging for a wave, you might need to find something else to do for a while.

The water at El Barco is sitting at a touch warmer than normal, which is a bit of a novelty, but that's about the only highlight.

We start with nothing. Friday the 11th is a complete write-off with tiny, poor surf. Saturday the 12th sees a bit more size, picking up to 6ft by the afternoon, but it's a junky, short-period swell with a fresh cross-onshore wind making it lumpy and messy. Not worth your time.

Sunday the 13th is similar, pretty poor and onshore. Then we go into a long, flat stretch. Monday the 14th has a clean little 2ft wave in the morning, but it's weak and the wind is just okay. It's surfable but nothing to get excited about. From there, it's a desert. Honestly, from the 15th through to the 21st, there's nothing doing. The swell just dies. A few tiny, clean mornings but no energy behind them. If you're a beginner, a longboarder, or just desperate for a splash, maybe you get something, but it's a lot of effort for nothing.

Now, the end of the run gets interesting, but not in a good way for most of us. On Tuesday the 22nd, we see a big pulse of southwest swell, with heights hitting 8ft. The energy is strong, but it's coming with a strong southerly wind, 28 mph in the afternoon, which is going to tear it to pieces. This isn't a surf forecast; it's a washing machine. If you're a serious expert with a death wish, maybe. But honestly, this looks a lot more like a kite-surfing day than a paddle-surf day. This is a big, powerful, and blown-out swell, not for beginners or even most intermediates.

Wednesday the 23rd is still big and strong, but the winds ease and it might become slightly more manageable, though still not great. After that, it slowly fades back down into nothing. By the 26th, it's flat again.

So, in short, the only window of any size is that Tuesday-Wednesday punch, but it gets hammered by the wind. For clean, rideable surf, there's nothing on the horizon in the next 16 days. It's a pretty bleak outlook, but that's how it goes sometimes. Keep an eye on it, because forecasts can change, but as it stands, I'd be finding another hobby for a while.

Rusty, signing off.

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