El Penon Amador Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, gather 'round. Rusty here.

Alright, let’s be straight with you. The outlook for El Penon Amador over the next 16 days is a tough one. We’re staring down a long stretch of poor-quality, unsurfable conditions. Honestly, for most of this period, you’re better off leaving the board in the car.

The pattern starts with a real dead spell. From now, through the end of August and into the first of September, we get a grinding series of small, weak, short-period windswells, mostly from the east, ENE, and NNE. The combined energy of these swells is very low, often under 100 (like 10-20 early on), and the wave comment across nearly every session is “poor surf conditions.” There’s not a single standout in this first period.

We have a gap of many days here. From Tuesday the 18th right up until Tuesday the 25th, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single rideable wave. The winds are mostly a moderate or fresh cross-shore breeze, and the swell height is virtually non-existent for the first week.

There is a bit of a change from Tuesday, August 25th. We see a jump in height and a moderate wave energy (1341 and 2059), with swell from the ENE at 8 ft. But, and this is a big but, the period is short (8 seconds) to very long (12 seconds). That 12-second period is a groundswell, but a long-period groundswell from this direction is tricky on this exposed reef. It might break straight and fat, especially with a cross-shore wind. The waves are described as "marginal surf forecast or questionable tide conditions." For a break that is for advanced surfers and inconsistent, these windows are a tough bet.

Wednesday the 26th sees another pulse of 6 ft to 7 ft with decent energy (561-696), but again the winds are cross or the conditions are marginal. It stays like this for a few days with mostly poor conditions and moderate cross-shore winds.

To be honest, the only flicker of hope is that Tuesday afternoon the 25th and Wednesday the 26th show the most size and energy we’ll see, but the quality just isn’t there. The break is inconsistent, and the conditions are messy. For a reef break needing an offshore wind, this constant cross-shore is killing it.

So, the honest truth: There are no good surf options in this 16-day window. The wave energy is weak, the winds are wrong, and the tide conditions look questionable. It’s a lean run for El Penon Amador.

Stay patient. It tends not to stay this flat forever.

Rusty.

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