Falmouth - Swanpool Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you – the next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for a proper surf. I've scanned the charts for our stretch of coast, mainly looking at Falmouth - Swanpool, and honestly, there's nothing that's going to get the heart racing. We're staring down a long, flat spell.

Looking at the big picture, we have a solid run of nothing but tiny, short-period swell for the next week or more. The first real sign of any size doesn't even show up until Monday the 24th, and even then, it's a mess. We're talking about a bump of energy, but it's all windswell, chopped up and coming from the wrong direction. The water's still mild for late August, right about average for the time of year, but that's about the only thing that's normal.

For the first stretch, from now through the weekend, forget it. We've got ankle-biters. The swell is hovering around 0.7 ft with a long period of 13 to 15 seconds, but that's not a good thing here. There's just no power behind it at all, with the combined swell energy down in the weak zone, barely registering above 20 or 30. The wind is mostly offshore or cross-offshore, which would be great if there were waves to clean up. There just aren't.

Then we hit Monday the 24th. The swell finally pushes up, but it's ugly. The morning sees 6 ft of short-period, 6-second windswell from the east, and the energy climbs to 245 – moderate but rough. The wind is howling onshore at 22 mph, so it's lumpy and unrideable. By the afternoon, it gets worse: 8 ft of 7-second slop, energy up to 531, and a strong 28 mph cross-onshore wind. That's a full-blown mess, more for the kite surfers than anyone with a paddle.

The rest of that week is more of the same – poor conditions. A quick spike on Wednesday the 26th brings some size again, around 7 ft, but it’s onshore and lumpy, with energy up at 568. Not for the faint of heart and definitely not for beginners.

We get a little respite towards the end of the week, but the size drops right back off. By Friday the 28th, we're back down to small, weak waves before bottoming out completely. The final weekend of August and the start of September look completely flat. The gap between any kind of rideable swell is huge – we're talking well over a week of nothing.

There is one thing on the far horizon. On Monday the 31st, there's a whisper of a very long-period groundswell showing up on the charts, but it's tiny, 0.3 ft. And it stays that way. The energy is almost nonexistent. It's a promise of something, maybe, but it’s a long way out and I wouldn't bank on it. We'll have to see if it fills in, but as of now, that’s a pipe dream. The long-range outlook is promising in that it's not just flat, but it's so small it's worthless.

Bottom line: there is nothing on the cards worth getting wet for. The first week is a total blank, and the second week doesn't offer any real hope. Don't bother checking the cam. This is a classic summer flat spell for us. Go do something else, because the surf is a no-go.

Later, Rusty.

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