5th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for the next couple of weeks.

Alright, well, I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough one. The next week and a half is lookin’ pretty flat and sad. We’ve got a long stretch of really small, weak energy with next to nothing worth paddlin’ out for. The first real, proper window of surf doesn’t show up until the first weekend of September, and even then, it’s not a classic.

The only spot we’ve got to look at is 5th Street. It’s a beach-and-jetty setup, generally intermediate territory, and it faces southeast. Right now, the bay is just starved for swell. For days and days, we’re talkin’ about waves barely hittin’ 1ft to 2ft, with wind coming from the WSW or W, which is a clean cross-offshore breeze, but there’s just no water moving to make it count. The energy is ridiculously low, with values like 24 to 58 (weak energy). The water is super warm, about 77°, and that’s 4° warmer than usual, so it’s definitely a weirdly warm August for ya.

We’ll sit through a total doldrum period from Sunday the 23rd all the way through to the end of the month. There’s a tiny uptick on the 31st with a 1ft swell from the SE, but the period jumps to 18 seconds, which is super long. That kind of long-period groundswell on a beach break like 5th Street can be a bit weird – it might just set up straight and dump you. The energy finally climbs to a moderate 90, but the wind is onshore and messy, so it’s gonna be a choppy, frustrating day.

Now, the first real standout – and I mean the *only* standout – looks like it might shape up for Saturday, September 5th. We’ve got some solid consistency and a bigger push of swell. The morning is looking good with a 3ft SE swell at a nice 12-second period, and the wind is offshore from the NNW at 12 mph. That’s a clean, moderate offshore breeze, which is what you want to see. The combined energy jumps to a strong 290, so there’s some proper grunt behind it. This is the best we’ve got on offer. The afternoon stays clean too, with a 3ft SE swell and lighter offshore NW wind, still holding that 12-second period. It’s not huge, but it’s clean, and that’s a win after all this flatness. It’s a beginner-friendly size, so it should be a fun day for intermediates and up.

The next day, Sunday the 6th, the wind switches onshore from the ENE, and the swell drops back to 2ft, so the window is really just that Saturday. It’s been a long, dry spell, but hey, it won’t stay this way forever.

Rusty, signing off.

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