Galheta Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Pull up a seat and let me tell you what’s cooking for this neck of the woods over the next couple of weeks. It’s a tale of two halves, so listen close.

Right now, things are flat. Monday the 24th and Tuesday the 25th of August are a total write-off – no surf to speak of. You’re better off waxing your board or fixing a leaky wetsuit. Wednesday the 26th is when the ocean wakes up, but here's the kicker: we’ve got a massive, very long-period groundswell from the SSE pouring in. We’re talking 7ft of swell with a period of 14 to 15 seconds. That’s a lot of water moving. The combined wave energy is massive (1927 on Wednesday morning). At Galheta, that’s going to be a washing machine. It’s too big and straight for a beach break. This is not beginner territory; this is for the experienced crew only, and even then, the lineup is going to be chaotic. The models are screaming excellent conditions for experts, but I’d call it a beast you have to respect.

Thursday the 27th morning is the standout of this first week. The swell drops to a still-chunky 6ft from the SSE, period of 14 seconds, and we have a light offshore breeze from the North. The energy is strong (1064) but more manageable. This is when the waves will have real power and shape for the experienced surfer. The water temp is sitting at 67°F, which is pretty much bang on average for this time of year. Nothing weird going on there.

The afternoon of the 27th gets messy with a cranking cross-offshore wind, and Friday the 28th drops off into small, ordinary conditions. The weekend of the 29th and 30th sees a shift in swell direction to the ENE, with a much shorter period (9 seconds). It’s surfable on Sunday the 30th with some clean conditions and about 5 to 5ft, but it’s not the same quality as Thursday. Then from Monday the 31st, it drops right off again. We have a long, quiet gap from Monday afternoon all the way through to Sunday the 6th of September. The surf is tiny, the winds are mostly onshore or cross-shore, and there’s just no power. It’s a real flat spell for the area for the best part of a week.

Now, looking further out, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Monday the 7th of September looks promising. We get a late pulse from the SSE, 5ft with a 12-second period. The energy is back up (796). But the real beauty here is the morning wind: glass. Absolutely glassy conditions. That morning session is going to be clean as a whistle if the swell fills in. This is a promising, long-range call, so keep your fingers crossed, but it looks like the best conditions on offer if the forecast holds. After that, it fizzles out into small stuff again on Tuesday the 8th.

So to wrap it up: if you’re an expert, Thursday the 27th morning is the pick of the near-term, but the 7th of September morning is the one that has me excited for the second week.

Rusty

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