El Roque Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here with a look at the surf prospects for El Roque over the next couple of weeks. I'll be straight with you – it's a bit of a tough stretch ahead. We're looking at a long run of poor conditions with just a glimmer of hope right at the very end.

The water is currently running at 75.9°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so you can leave the thick rubber at home.

Right off the bat, from Sunday the 30th of August all the way through to Saturday the 12th of September, it's a write-off. The energy is weak to moderate, with combined readings struggling to get past the 300 mark. The wind is our biggest enemy here, blowing cross-on or onshore from the NNE for days on end, which is making a mess of the surface. The swell is mostly short-period wind swell of 7 or 8 seconds, bumpy and weak. Even when the height nudges up to 7.2ft on the Wednesday the 2nd and 6.9ft on the 3rd, the onshore wind has it chopped up. At that size, over 5ft, it's pushing it for beginners, and with the wind, it's just a messy, challenging paddle.

Sunday the 13th of September is the first sign of life, though you wouldn't call it good. Morning gives us 4.9ft of NNE swell with a light breeze and clean conditions, but the wave comment still flags it as marginal due to poor tide or quality. The afternoon slides back into choppy cross-on junk.

The best and really the only standout in the whole window falls on Monday the 8th of September. It's not a big swell – just 2ft – but that's coming from the NW with a long 12-second period, a proper groundswell. The combined energy is only 273, so it's weak, but that long period will give the corner at El Roque a cleaner, more lined-up look. The wind is a light cross-on, so it'll be a little bumpy but not terrible. For a reef break like this, the long period will focus the energy nicely. I'd call it a long shot, but it's your best bet for a sneaky session.

After that, things fade out to tiny, weak 2.6-3ft leftovers from the 14th.

Honestly, for the first two weeks, the setup is so consistently wind-affected that this beach-and-reef setup would be far more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. That Wednesday the 9th of September morning offers a small grain of hope with a 3.6ft NW groundswell and a light cross-on wind, but it's still a gamble.

So to sum it up: a long, blank run with poor conditions. Then, a brief, promising window but with small waves. Hang in there.

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