Fortress Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – we’ve got a long, frustrating stretch ahead at Fortress. This is a reef break that’s pretty consistent, but the conditions just aren't lining up for a decent paddle session for the better part of two weeks.

The first real chance for a wave is Wednesday morning, the 26th of August. We’re looking at tiny 2 ft swell from the SE with a short period of 9 seconds. The combined energy is a weak 42, so it’s barely pushing. On the bright side, the wind is a light offshore from the WNW at 6 mph, keeping things clean. The water is sitting at about 71°, which is pretty normal for this time of year. But honestly, this is a poor surf, a beginner-level wave. It’s not something to get excited about.

That afternoon, the wind swings onshore and gets stronger, and the conditions just get worse. We go through a whole run of poor surf – Thursday the 27th has moderate cross-shore winds and chop, Friday the 28th is a little better with a light breeze making it clean, but the swell is still tiny and weak. The energy jumps a bit Friday morning to 105, but the period drops to a pathetic 6 seconds. It’s just not holding together.

We roll through the weekend and into the start of September with nothing but small, weak, and messy surf. There’s a gap of about 10 days where the scores are all zero. The wind is all over the place, and the swell never gets above 3 ft until the second week of September.

Now, the first week of September is a bit of a tease. The swell energy starts to build, but it’s all cross-onshore, so the quality is shot. On the 6th of September, a Sunday afternoon, we see a jump in energy to 176 with a 3 ft swell from the ESE, but the period is 11 seconds – a proper groundswell. The problem? Fresh cross-onshore wind at 19 mph making it lumpy. That’s a mess.

The best looking window in the whole 16 days comes on the 9th and 10th of September. Wednesday the 9th has a clean offshore wind from the WNW at 16-19 mph, with a 2 ft ESE groundswell (11 seconds) and moderate energy around 112-115. It’s still small, but it’s clean. Then Thursday the 10th of September brings a stronger offshore – 22-25 mph from the WNW – with a 2 ft ESE swell. The energy is only 89, but the wind is fresh to strong offshore, making it clean. That’s the standout window. The waves are small, but they’ll be the cleanest we see. For an expert, it’s a fun little session on a reef. For beginners, it’s too windy and the offshore will be hard to handle.

The long-period swell (11 seconds) is a groundswell, which is good for this reef. It’ll give some shape, but the size is just too small to get excited about. There’s nothing here over 5 ft, so no issues with it being too big.

Honestly, the whole period is a bit of a dud. If you’re desperate for a paddle, the 9th and 10th of September are your best bet, but don’t expect much. The rest of the time, the setup is more interesting for kite surfers than paddle surfers, given the onshore winds and choppy conditions.

Rusty.

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