El Palito Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – this outlook is a tough one. We’re looking at a 16-day window that’s basically a write-off for any decent surf. The first actual swell that shows up on the cards is a small pulse on Wednesday afternoon, July 8th.

From the get-go, the pattern is grim. We’ve got a run of days with no swell at all, just flat spells. The first real opportunity, if you can call it that, is a tiny NE windswell on Wednesday afternoon, July 8th, at El Palito. The water temp is sitting at a warm 82°, which is about normal for this time of year, but that’s small comfort. The combined energy is a weak 119. The wind is a cross-on from the ENE at 9 mph, making it choppy and messy. It’s poor surf conditions, plain and simple.

Then we hit a massive gap. From Thursday morning, July 9th, right through to the afternoon of Sunday, July 20th, it’s a desert. Day after day of zero wave energy. There are mornings with glassy conditions and offshore winds, but no swell to ride. It’s a frustrating stretch of nothing.

The only other tiny blip is a NE swell with a 3 ft height and 7-second period creeping in on a few mornings, like Monday, July 13th, and Tuesday, July 14th. The combined energy is weak, in the 89 to 91 range. The wind is light onshore from the NNE at 6 mph, which is better than the afternoon cross-offshores, but the waves are too small and weak to get excited about. This is strictly beginner territory, and even then, it’s a struggle.

For a standout, there simply isn’t one. The best of a bad bunch is the early morning of Monday, July 13th. You’ll get a tiny 3 ft NE swell with a light onshore wind. It’s small, weak, and the break is a beach and breakwater setup that’s fairly exposed. The NE direction aligns with the optimum for El Palito, but the period is short (7 seconds), so it’ll be weak and mushy. Expect crowds here, as it’s a fairly consistent spot, but there won’t be much to fight over.

The rest of the second week is a repeat of the same flat pattern. The only change is a couple of glassy afternoons on July 21st and 22nd, but with zero swell, it’s just a clean, flat ocean. This is a long, dry spell. For this area, a blank run like this is more normal than not, so don’t hold your breath.

Rusty.

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