Gold Beach/South Park/Hunter Creek Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you. The outlook for Gold Beach, South Park, and Hunter Creek over the next 16 days is a tough one. We’re looking at a long stretch of poor surf conditions, with the wind blowing cross-onshore from the NNW almost every day. The water temperature is sitting at a chilly 51°F, which is a whopping 5°F colder than the average for this time of year – that’s a very unusual chill, so you’ll want a thick wetsuit.

The first real chance of anything is a long way off. From now through most of the period, it’s a mess of lumpy, choppy, cross-onshore conditions with wave heights barely reaching 5ft and all the energy being weak to moderate (203 to 581 in the combined energy). The few times the swell does show a bit of size, like on the 11th with 5ft from the NW, the period is a short 10 seconds or less, and the wind is always on it, wrecking the surface.

There is a brief moment on the 18th of July, Saturday afternoon, that stands out as the best on offer. The wind drops off to a light 3 mph from the WNW and goes straight offshore. The swell is a modest 2ft from the SW with a very long 18-second period. This is for the experienced surfer who knows a point break or reef setup – that long period will make it bend and hold up, but it will be fat and slow. The wave energy is moderate (543). It’s a marginal, questionable tide scenario, but that offshore wind is a major positive. If you’re a patient surfer with a log, this is your window.

The 19th of July, Sunday morning, is a similar story with a light 3 mph NW wind, but it’s cross-on, not clean. There’s a 2ft swell from the W with a 15-second period, so the conditions are just as marginal.

Other than those two windows, the rest of the month is a write-off. The wind is howling at 12-25 mph, and the surf is always poor. The sets are short-period and choppy. For the 9 days of the first week, you’re looking at nothing but wind-affected junk. The second week doesn’t get any better, with the same pattern of cross and cross-onshore winds from the NNW and NW. The 23rd has a 5ft swell from the NW, but with a 25 mph cross-shore wind, it’s just a lumpy, messy wall of whitewater. Honestly, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Rusty.

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