Fishermans (Rhiw) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s talk about the 16-day run. Honestly, it’s a bit of a downer – not much to work with at all. There’s maybe one or two windows that could give you a session, but you’ll have to wait. Most of the first week is flat, and the second week brings some power but gets hammered by wind. For a spot like Fishermans (Rhiw), you really need the weather to play ball, and it just isn’t cooperating.

From the get-go through the end of August into early September, it’s tiny. Swell heights are sitting at 0.3ft to 0.7ft for days – just not enough to ride. The combined wave energy is feeble, with values in the single digits or low double digits, like 8, 9, 10 – it’s dead flat. The water temp on the 23rd is around 64°, which is a touch warmer than usual for this time of year, but that’s the only good news. You’ll see some glassy or light offshore moments early on (like Sunday 23rd morning with a light NNE breeze, or Wednesday 26th afternoon when it goes glassy), but with no swell, it’s just a pretty lake.

That flat spell drags on until the tail end of the first week. There’s a little bump on Thursday 27th afternoon, with a 3ft swell from the SW and a period of 8 seconds, giving combined energy of 110 – that’s moderate but still poor. Then Friday 28th morning goes glassy with a 2ft swell, but again, it’s weak and not worth paddling out for.

The only real change shows up on Sunday 30th August. You get a 6ft swell from the W on Sunday morning, with a short period of 6 seconds (windswell) and combined energy of 247 – that’s moderate. But the wind is a fresh cross-shore from the WNW at 22 mph, making it lumpy. Sunday afternoon cleans up a bit with a 5ft swell from the WNW and a cross-offshore NW breeze at 22 mph, energy dropping to 131. Still not great.

The best chance of the whole run lands on Friday 4th September. Friday morning pushes a 6ft swell from the WSW with a period of 9 seconds, and the combined energy jumps to 994 – that’s strong. But the wind is a moderate cross-onshore from the SW at 12 mph, creating chop. It’s the biggest swell of the window, but messy. The afternoon gets a little better: the swell drops to 4ft from the WSW, still 9 seconds, and energy hits 280, which is moderate. The wind lightens to a light breeze from the WSW at 6 mph, but it’s still cross-onshore, so the surface will have small ripples. That afternoon is rated as marginal, and it’s probably the only time you might consider getting wet. Swell over 5ft is getting big for beginners, so the 6ft morning is expert territory, while the 4ft afternoon is more doable for experienced surfers. But with that wind, it’s not going to be clean.

After that, it goes south fast. Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September see 5ft to 6ft swells but with strong onshore winds of 19 to 31 mph – a total washout. By Monday 7th September, the swell cranks up to 8ft and 10ft from the SW, with combined energy in the 800 to 1295 range – that’s very strong. But the wind is a near gale, 31 to 34 mph, blowing cross-onshore and cross-shore, making it huge, ragged, and dangerous. These sizes are for experts only, and with that wind, it’s more suited to a kite than a paddle. For a reef and beach setup, this kind of wind and energy is just a mess.

So, the standout – and I’m being generous – is the afternoon of Friday 4th September. It’s a marginal session at best, with the strongest semi-clean energy of the period and a manageable swell height. Still, the cross-onshore wind means it won’t be glassy. Crowds are listed as “sometimes,” so you might see a few folks out, but with such a poor run overall, it won’t be packed.

For the rest of the two weeks, it’s long stretches of flat or junk. A few days of energy but awful wind. This kind of blank run is pretty normal for the area – it happens when the weather patterns don’t line up. Forecasts can turn around, but right now, there’s not much to chase.

Rusty

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