Emerald Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Hey crew, Rusty here reporting in. Let’s run through what’s happening in the water over the next couple of weeks. Been a quiet one lately, that’s for sure.

We are looking at a long, dry spell of tiny, weak surf right through until mid-September. Most days we’re seeing waves under 1–2 feet, mostly short-period slop with combined swell energy barely registering over 20–30. The wind is actually decent a lot of those days – clean offshore breezes from the SSW – but without any swell, it’s just a glassy pond. You can’t surf nothing.

Things start to change around Saturday, September 19th. That morning we get a proper kick: 5ft SE swell at 11 seconds, with a combined energy reading of 424 – that’s a solid moderate-to-strong pulse. The wind is cross-on from the NW, so the morning will be a little bumpy. But the afternoon of the 19th is where it all comes together. The wind swings SE, becoming a clean cross-off, and the swell is still a solid 4ft from the SE (342 energy) with a nice 10-second period. That’s the best window of the entire forecast period.

For that afternoon session, Emerald Beach is the go-to. It’s a point break that loves an SE swell coming out of a NE optimum direction. The cross-off wind will give us clean faces. This is good, solid surf for the average intermediate surfer. Just know that this break can get packed, so be ready to share. Water temp is right around 68°, which is normal for this time of year – no major anomaly.

Sunday the 20th we drop back to small, weak waves again, around 2ft. Then we get a brief, weird spike on Monday the 21st of September – morning sees a 4ft NNE swell, and then the afternoon jumps up to a powerful 8ft from the NNE, with a combined energy of 631. That’s serious size, but the period is only 7 seconds, so it’ll be messy, fat, and definitely not for beginners. That’s strictly for the experts. The wind will be clean, so it’s not a total loss, but the shape will be poor.

Honestly, with that big, short-period NNE swell on the 21st afternoon, the setup at a beach break is likely more suited to kite surfers than paddle surfers. The waves will be too fat and too intimidating for most.

So here’s the bottom line: the first 12 days are almost entirely flat and not worth a second look. The only true standout is the afternoon of Saturday, September 19th at Emerald Beach – 4ft of clean SE swell, cross-off wind, a point break that’ll line it up. That’s your window, don’t sleep on it.

Rusty.

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