Freshwater West Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, folks, Rusty here. Let's have a proper look at what's on the cards for Freshwater West. I’ll be straight with you—it’s a bit of a mixed bag and you’ll need to be patient.

The overall pattern for the next few weeks is pretty quiet to start, with a lot of small, weak, and often messy surf. The wave energy is very low for the first week, with only a few small windows of clean conditions. There’s a real gap here for the first 12 days where things are just too poor to get excited about. The real standout, the one you want to circle on the calendar, is the morning of Saturday the 15th of August. That’s a proper little window before it all fades again.

Let’s walk through it. Right now, into Sunday the 2nd, the swell is tiny at 1ft from the WSW with a short period of 8 seconds. The energy is a measly 24. There’s a glassy window on the Sunday afternoon with a NNE breeze, but with no real swell, it’s not worth wetting a suit. Monday and Tuesday bring a bit more size, up to 4ft, but the wind is onshore or cross-on, making it choppy and poor. The water temp is about 64°F, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s small comfort when the waves are junk.

Wednesday the 5th sees the biggest swell of the first week, hitting 6ft from the WSW with a period of 8 seconds. The energy jumps to 460, but it’s accompanied by a fresh onshore breeze. That’s a lot of white water and not much shape. For a beginner, that 6ft is getting too big, and it’s certainly not clean. The rest of that week and into the next is just a saga of small, weak, or onshore slop. There’s a real drought from the 6th right through to the 13th of August, with the best you’ll see being tiny knee-high leftovers and mostly dirty conditions.

Now, the light at the end of the tunnel. Friday morning the 14th of August is the first sign of life. The swell is 5ft from the W with a short 6-second period, but the energy is 162, and the wind is a clean cross-off from the ESE. The wave comment says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” which is not a ringing endorsement, but it’s the first clean surf in over a week.

But the real standout, the session you should aim for, is Saturday morning the 15th of August. This is the best on offer. The swell is 5ft from the W with a 6-second period, giving a moderate energy of 215. The wind is a light offshore from the E, and it’s clean. The wave comment says “expect good surf conditions.” This is your window. It’s a bit short-period, but with that offshore wind, Freshwater West (Pembrokeshire) could offer up some fun, clean lines. The crowd profile says “sometimes,” so you might have some company, but it won’t be a circus. For the more experienced among you, this 5ft is a solid size. For beginners, it’s on the upper end of what’s comfortable.

After that, it fades again. The Sunday the 16th drops back to 2ft, and the following Monday the 17th has a bit of clean 4ft swell, but nothing like that Saturday morning. That Saturday the 15th is the one to get your eye on. It’s a long-range call, so keep an eye on the charts, but it’s the best hope we’ve got.

Rusty.

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