El Huaico Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s talk about El Huaico. This is a reef setup that’s very consistent, but the whole 16-day window is honestly a bit of a struggle. The water is sitting at 70°F, which is a whopping 9°F warmer than normal for this time of year – that’s very unusual, so you can leave the thick wetsuit at home.

The pattern starts off with surf on Friday, August 14th. The morning session has a 5ft swell from the southwest, with a really long period of 16 seconds. That’s pure groundswell, packing a moderate-to-strong energy (1355). The wind is a light cross breeze from the south at 6 mph, so it’s clean. This is the best on offer for the whole period, but even then it’s only a marginal call. Saturday and Sunday, August 15th and 16th, see the swell drop a bit to 4ft, period backing off to 14 seconds, and the winds shift to a light cross-on or cross, keeping things messy. The energy is moderate (836 to 687). It’s not great.

Then there’s a gap of a few days where the surf quality is poor. The energy picks up again on Tuesday, August 18th, with a 7ft to 8ft swell from the south-southwest. The combined energy jumps to strong (2594), but it’s a short-period swell, dropping to 14 seconds. The winds are cross, which is about the only positive. The waves are powerful but raw, and this size is getting borderline for beginners. By Wednesday, August 19th, the swell holds at 7ft, but the period crashes to 10 seconds with a light cross-on wind. It’s a messy, drifty setup.

From Thursday, August 20th, right through to the end of the forecast on August 29th, the story is the same: small swell, mostly 3ft to 5ft, with periods between 8 and 11 seconds. The winds are predominantly light cross-on from the south or southwest. The energy is weak, barely cracking 400. The reef will have some shape, but the surf is just poor to marginal. There’s a brief moment on August 24th where the swell direction is from the south, which aligns with the optimum direction for this reef, but it’s still too small and weak to make a difference.

Honestly, if you’re desperate, the Friday morning session on August 14th is your only real standout. That long-period groundswell and clean cross breeze is the closest we’ll get to a proper wave. Everything else is a head-scratcher. The whole second week is a write-off – small, weak, and onshore. For a spot that’s very consistent, this is a rough run of luck.

Rusty.

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