Fortress Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a proper look at what’s on offer over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – Fortress is looking like a bit of a non-event for the foreseeable future. We’ve got a solid 16-day window in front of us, but the first week and a half is basically a write-off. There’s a long, dry gap from the start all the way through to the morning of the 23rd of July where the surf just isn’t worth paddling out for. The early days are plagued by tiny, weak swell and poor conditions. The energy is laughable, with readings barely cracking 20 or 30 (22 to 35) – that’s just not enough to push a decent wave. The wind is mostly cross or cross-off, and the swell direction is all over the shop, so you’re just getting a bumpy, choppy mess.

We do get a bit of a pulse on the 15th of July, with a moderate bump in energy (241) and a 4ft SW swell, but it’s a short-period, 7-second slop that’s marginal at best. The wind is clean, but the quality just isn’t there for a proper session. Then again on the 20th and 21st, the swell picks up a bit – 5ft to 6ft out of the East (179 to 349 energy) – but the wind is onshore, making it a choppy, blown-out mess. That’s more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle surfing one. The wave quality is marked as poor across the board.

The one real standout, and I mean the *only* one worth mentioning, is the morning of the 23rd of July. It’s a week and a half away, so don’t set your watch by it, but the forecast is promising. We’ve got glassy conditions – dead flat wind – with a clean 3ft swell from the South, with a 8-second period. The energy is a solid 144, which is moderate. It’s the only morning in the whole run with glassy, clean conditions. The water is a bit colder than normal at 67°, but that’s not a dealbreaker. It’s a beginner-friendly reef break, so it's a good one for a cruise. Just keep in mind, crowds are often there, so you might have some company.

After that, the run flattens out again. We get a bit of a bump on the 27th of July with a 4ft S swell (165 energy) and clean cross-off wind, but it’s only a 1 out of 10 quality – surfable, but very ordinary. Nothing to get excited about.

So, the honest truth? For the next 16 days, the only real shot at a decent wave is that glassy morning on the 23rd of July. The rest of the time, you’re better off doing something else. It’s a grim run for Fortress.

Rusty.

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