El Suicidio Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's talk about the coming stretch at El Suicidio.

To be straight with you, we're looking at a pretty grim run of surf for a while. The next several days are mostly a write-off – small, messy, and blown out. We’ve got occasional pulses of energy, but the wind is just killing any chance of a decent wave. The first real shot at something clean doesn't show up until the 25th, which is over a week away. Before that, it's basically a waiting game.

The water temp is sitting at 53°F, which is about what you'd expect for this time of year. Nothing crazy there.

Monday, August 18th through Saturday, August 23rd – Forget it. The swell is small and all over the place, with periods under 8 seconds, and the wind is onshore or cross-onshore for most of it. There's a brief window on Wednesday afternoon the 19th with some light cross-off breeze, but the swell is tiny at 2ft. You might get a sloppy, unbroken wave, but it's not worth paddling out for. The energy is weak, reading between 40 and 157, so there's just nothing behind these waves.

Starting on Saturday the 22nd, we see a real jump in size as the combined energy reading hits 451, then 572. But don’t get excited. This is a stormy mess – 6ft to 7ft of short-period, wind-blown slop with a strong onshore breeze. It's big, but it's just lumps and chop. This setup looks more interesting for the kite surfers than the paddle crew.

Sunday, August 23rd – The energy explodes to 1536, with a 7ft swell, but it's coming from the S with a 10-second period and a fresh SW cross-onshore wind. It's still a complete mess. The next day, Monday the 24th, the swell holds at 7ft but the period jumps to 14 seconds. This is a proper groundswell. The wind is light, but it's still onshore, which will put some chop on it. It's going to be big, powerful, and a bit unruly. I'd rate this as one of the only times it might be worth a look, but only if you're an expert looking for a hefty challenge. The energy reading is a massive 1748, so there’s a lot of water moving.

Tuesday, August 25th is the standout. The wind finally swings around to a clean offshore from the N, and we've got a 4ft SSE groundswell with a 12-second period. The energy is down to 467, but combined with the clean conditions, this is the best surf we're going to see in this entire window. This is a point break, so a long-period swell like this should line up well. It’s not a giant day, but it will be clean, and that's a huge bonus around here. The morning looks best for the offshore wind.

After that, things taper off rapidly. Wednesday the 26th has some clean little 2ft waves with an offshore wind, but it's pretty weak. Then we're back into a run of tiny, poor surf right through the end of the month and into the start of September. There's a bump on September 1st with some size, but it's short-period and the wind is howling onshore – just another messy, windy day.

So, the long and short of it is: keep your board waxed for the morning of the 25th. That’s your window. Everything else is either too small, too messy, or too big and blown out to bother with. The forecast for that day is a bit more reliable as it’s within the first week. The cleaner days later on are more promising but less certain. Don't hold your breath for much else.

Rusty.

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