Fausse Passe Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, looking at the waves for Fausse Passe (Reunion) over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be honest – it’s a long, slow grind for the most part. We’ve got a gap of nearly two weeks of pretty poor to marginal surf before anything really gets going. So, don’t hold your breath.

The water temp is about 72°F, which is pretty normal for the time of year.

The first real chance to get wet comes on Wednesday the 19th of August. We’ve got a 6-foot swell from the SE, with a 10-second period. The combined energy is moderate (1100), and the wind is a cross-off from the ESE at 22 mph, so it’s clean but not glassy. It’s a marginal call, though, so not a day to get excited about.

From Thursday the 20th all the way through to Tuesday the 1st of September, it’s a long, dry spell. The swell heights bounce around from 1 feet to 6 feet, but the wind is almost always a fresh cross-off, and the conditions are repeatedly described as poor. There’s a tiny flicker on Sunday the 23rd afternoon with offshore wind and 1-foot swell, and again on Monday the 24th morning with offshore wind and 3-foot swell, but the energy is weak (69 and 190 respectively). Not worth the paddle.

The best part of the entire forecast is a couple of days out. On Wednesday the 3rd of September, we’ve got a solid 10-foot swell from the SSW, with a 14-second period – that’s a proper groundswell. The combined energy is very strong (2921). The wind is cross-off from the ESE at 22 mph, so it’s clean. But here’s the catch: that 10-foot swell is too big for this break. The guidance says it’s predicted to be too big for Fausse Passe, a reef break. This is for experts only, and it’s going to be a heavy, washing-machine kind of day. The setup is definitely more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

On Thursday the 3rd afternoon, it drops to 8 feet from the same SSW direction, still a 14-second period, and the energy is still very strong (2457), but it’s still on the big side and marginal.

So, the only real standout in this 16-day window is the 10-foot, 14-second SSW groundswell on Thursday the 3rd of September. It’s a big, powerful, clean swell, but it’s for the brave only. Everything else is a write-off. A blank run like this is more normal for the area, so don’t get too worked up.

Rusty.

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