57th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Well, it’s a tough stretch ahead for 57th Street. Honestly, it’s a pretty quiet outlook for the next couple of weeks with no real standouts. The first few days barely offer anything rideable, and the ocean looks pretty flat for most of July and early August for this sandbar break.

We kick off on Friday, 28 August with tiny waves—only 2ft of swell out of the ESE at 8 seconds. The energy is weak (65 combined energy), but conditions are glassy with that 3 mph ESE breeze and then calm air in the afternoon, so it’s clean if you’re desperate for a paddle. Honestly, it’s more of a longboard knee-slapper than anything to get excited about.

Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th are worse—the swell drops to 2ft and then 1ft, and the winds turn cross-shore and onshore, making things choppy and messy. No joy there.

Monday the 31st through to Wednesday 02 September is a real low point. Swells are barely 1ft to 1ft, and even when the wind goes glassy on Monday afternoon, there’s just no push. The energy readings drop to single and low double digits (7–18) which tells you the ocean is basically asleep.

Now, there’s a little flicker around Sunday 06 September and the start of the next week. The swell pushes up to 2ft from the E with a longer 11-second period (groundswell), and the combined energy climbs to 89. That’s still only “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions.” But here’s the good bit: from Monday 07 September morning through Tuesday 08 September, we get solid offshore winds from the NW (16 mph Monday morning, 12 mph Monday afternoon). Clean, offshore lines. The size stays at 2ft, but the wind quality makes it the best of the entire run. The water temp is about average for this time of year.

Even then, the period gets a bit longer at 11 seconds, which is better for shape but can make a sandbar break like 57th Street a bit straight. For someone wanting a clean, small-wave session, Monday 07 September morning is the only real window worth setting an alarm for.

From 09 September onwards, the swell gets jumbled again—some short-period S swells and weak ESE pulses—and it peters out into flatness by 11 and 12 September.

Bottom line: nothing pumps. There’s one decent morning (07 September) with clean offshore winds on a small, long-period groundswell. It’s a beginner’s wave, not a bomb. Crowds might pop up given the lack of other options. The rest is a long gap of flat or poor conditions. If you’ve got a kite, the afternoon on 02 September with 2ft cross-onshore junk could be more fun for that crowd than for a surfer.

Rusty.

Read more