Fortress Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's look at what's on the menu for the next sixteen days at Fortress.

Honestly, it's a pretty grim stretch. The surf is going to be flat or tiny for the most part, with a lot of wind messing things up. We're looking at a long, dry spell with almost nothing rideable. There’s a tiny window of hope way out near the end, but it's a long way off.

Right now, from Wednesday the 9th to the 23rd of September, there's just no real swell. We're talking knee-high or less, with a weak combined energy (often under 100). The wind is all over the place, mostly cross or sideshore, which will chop up the tiny waves. There's a few glassy moments, like on Saturday the 12th with a glassy 1ft SE swell, but it's just too small to bother with. Sunday the 13th sees a bit of a bump to 3ft, but it's a short-period, junky SSE swell with a combined energy of 80, and the wind is light but onshore, making it sloppy. The water temperature is about average for this time of year, so nothing wild there.

The only real standout, and I mean the *only* one, is way out on Thursday the 24th of September. There's a 2ft swell from the SSE, but it has a very long period of 18 seconds. That's a proper groundswell. The combined energy jumps up to 263, which is respectable. The catch? The wind is a moderate cross-shore from the NNE that will create a cross-chop, so it won't be perfect. This is a reef break, and a long-period SSE swell can wrap in nicely, but that cross-wind will be a pain. It's not a beginner wave at the best of times, and the quality here is still rated as poor. This is a promising but very uncertain long-range prospect.

So, bottom line: if you're desperate, keep an eye on that Thursday the 24th, but don't hold your breath. The rest of the forecast is a write-off. The setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing for most of this period.

Rusty.

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