56th St Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's take a long look at what's on the table for the next couple of weeks. I gotta be straight with you – it's a rough stretch. We've got a classic summer lull settling in, and the surf is looking pretty weak and messy for the foreseeable future. There are no standout days, no big swells to get excited about. It's just a long, flat spell of small, choppy waves.

We do have one spot on the radar, 56th St. It's a sheltered break that usually handles a south-west swell, and it's very consistent, which is about the only positive I can find. But the problem is the quality. Right from the start on Monday the 10th of August, it's a no-go with poor surf and cross-onshore winds. That same story just keeps repeating.

The water is the first thing to notice. It's 73°F right now, which is a massive 6°F warmer than normal. That's very unusual – you're basically swimming in bathwater.

We go right through the first week, from Monday the 10th right through to Sunday the 16th, and it's just poor conditions. The swell is tiny, barely pushing 2ft to 3ft, and the period is shockingly short for most of it – under 8 seconds. That's pure local wind chop. The combined energy readings hover in the moderate range, like 232 to 566, but the nature of the swell is all wrong. The winds are mostly a light cross-onshore breeze, which just messes up any chance of a clean face. Even when we get a small bump in energy on Friday the 14th afternoon (513) and Saturday the 15th afternoon (566), the surf report is still "poor surf conditions". It's frustrating.

Then the second week rolls in, and it's more of the same. From Monday the 17th through to Tuesday the 25th of August, it's a total desert. The swell doesn't even crack 3ft, the period stays short to mediocre, and the winds keep blowing from the wrong angle. The energy numbers drop off a cliff, too – dipping down to just 128 on Saturday the 22nd, which is weak. There's a tiny glimmer on Sunday the 23rd and Monday the 24th where the period stretches to 18 seconds from the SW, which is a bit of pulse, but it's only 1ft to 2ft. That's barely a ripple. It’s a classic case of a long-period swell that just doesn't have any size behind it.

Look, this break is very consistent, it rarely goes flat, but the quality just isn't there. With such small, weak, and wind-affected surf, this stretch of weather looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer. For the next 16 days, there's nothing here worth your time. A blank run like this is pretty normal for this area during a settled summer pattern.

Keep the board waxed and the water warm – maybe do some repairs. The forecasts can always change, but for now, it's a hard pass.

Rusty.

Read more