El Palito Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, let’s get straight to it. Looking at the whole 16-day window, it’s pretty grim out there. We’re looking at a long stretch of flat or near-flat conditions with a little tease later on, but honestly, it’s mostly a write-off for paddle surfing. There’s a big gap of quiet water before anything even vaguely worth mentioning shows up.

For El Palito, a beach and breakwater setup in the region, the combined swell energy is either zero or in the weak single and two-digit numbers for the whole time. The first hint of any swell doesn’t arrive until the morning of Sunday the 13th of September, and even then it’s a weak 3ft from the NE with a short period of 7 seconds. The combined energy is just 91 – that’s barely a bump. Plus, the wind is onshore or cross-onshore for most of the day, so the surf quality is poor. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing to write home about.

Sunday fizzles out, and Monday the 14th of September morning offers a tiny 3ft NE swell (energy 67), but same story – poor quality. The rest of that week and the next are a dead loss. There’s a few days with zero swell, which makes for a proper blank run. For a spot like this, that’s not unusual, but it’s still frustrating.

The only real standout comes on the morning of Sunday the 20th of September. A tiny 0.3ft swell from the north with a 12-second period, combined energy of 4. It’s not about size, it’s about the window. The wind is glassy – that early morning calm – and the conditions are glassy. For a brief moment, it might be clean, but the swell is so small it’s barely rideable. That’s the best on offer, and it’s a true expert-level micro-session.

If you’re a kiter, the persistent onshore and cross-onshore wind and very small, choppy waves might look more interesting than for a surfer. For the rest of us, it’s a classic lull. The forecast can always change, but right now, this is a two-week stretch of patience.

Rusty.

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