57th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you—this stretch of coast is looking pretty challenged for the next couple of weeks. We’ve got one main break, 57th Street, a sandbar setup that’s fairly consistent but honestly, it’s not offering up much to get excited about. The water’s sitting at 78°, which is a solid 4° warmer than normal for this time of year, so that’s a real standout—unusually warm for a surf.

The first few days are a total write-off. From Wednesday the 12th through the weekend of the 15th and 16th, we’re looking at tiny, weak waves—nothing over 3ft—with a mix of cross-onshore and onshore winds. The energy is weak, reading in the single digits to low 30s, and the periods are short. You’d be better off finding something else to do.

Monday the 17th rolls in with a slight bump—a 3ft SSE swell, but it’s still pretty average. The morning has a gentle offshore from the NNW, which cleans it up, but it’s not breaking with any conviction. That’s about the best we see for a while, and it’s not saying much. The energy ticks up to 66, which is still on the weak side.

Then it’s another dry spell. From Tuesday the 18th through to Sunday the 23rd, it’s back to small, messy, and mostly cross-shore or onshore winds. You’ll see some swell direction changes, but the size stays small and the quality poor. There’s a brief moment on Sunday afternoon the 23rd when the energy jumps to 124 with a 3ft S swell, but it’s cross-onshore and choppy, so it won’t be any fun.

The real shift happens on Monday the 26th. The morning brings a 5ft E swell with a period of 7 seconds, and the wind is a light offshore from the WNW. The energy reads 211, which is our first taste of moderate wave energy in the whole window. It’s clean, and the surf is pushing overhead on the sets. This is the standout of the entire forecast—not perfect, but by far the most surfable conditions we get. The afternoon holds similar size and clean conditions with a cross-off wind.

After that, the window closes with Tuesday the 27th turning ugly—onshore ENE winds at 12-16 mph, dropping the waves back to 3ft and making a mess of things. The energy drops back to the 70s and 80s. That’s your lot.

So, if you can wait, Monday the 26th is your day. It’s not huge, but it’s clean, and that’s more than we can say for anything else here. The warm water is a bonus, but the surf itself is a grind. Stay patient.

This is Rusty, signing off.

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