El Corniche Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let me look you square in the eye. I’ve been staring at the charts for the next couple of weeks, and I gotta be straight with you: it’s a rough stretch for El Corniche. This is a spot that rarely breaks as it is, and sadly, the next 16 days don’t offer much of a reason to get excited. We’re looking at a long, dry spell with only a few flickers of hope way out there.

The water temp is sittin' pretty average for the time of year, nothing weird to report.

From Sunday the 19th of July right through to the end of the month, it’s grim. The swell is small, the period is short, and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore. The wave energy is weak, barely cracking 50 to 70 (energy in the 50-70 range) for most of that first week. It’s a whole lot of nothing. The surf is consistently rated as poor, with a few mornings tagged as “marginal,” but that’s just polite talk for "don't bother."

We finally see a little pulse of energy on Monday the 27th of July. The swell bumps up to 4 ft coming from the WNW with a period of 9 seconds. That’s a moderate energy event (216), and it’s the best period we see in the whole run. But here’s the heartbreaker: the wind is a gentle cross-onshore, bumping up the surface. It’s not clean, and it’s not the direction El Corniche wants to see. The next morning, Tuesday the 28th, has a similar size but a shorter period and cross-onshore wind again. It’s just not coming together.

The only real glimmer is on Wednesday the 30th of July. The swell is 5 ft from the NNW, giving us the biggest energy reading of the period (263). The wind is onshore, but it’s light. That’s a big swell for this spot, and at 5 ft, it’s getting into the territory where only the more experienced surfers will want it. The period is only 7 seconds though, so it’s a windswell, not a groundswell. It’s still a poor surf call, but if you’re desperate, that’s the morning to have a look. The confidence is low because it’s a week and a half out.

After that, it fades back into tiny, weak, onshore junk for the first few days of August. The whole run is a bust, really. Given the onshore winds and the beach setup, this might actually be more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer for most of the next two weeks.

If I had to pick one standout, it’s that Wednesday the 30th of July morning. It’s the biggest swell, but the wind is still junk. It’s the only day with a pulse. The rest? Save your petrol.

Rusty.

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