Guidel Plages Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab a coffee, or a surfboard. It’s Rusty here, and we’re looking at a proper dry spell for Guidel Plages. This is a beach and reef setup that needs a solid SW swell and clean winds to really fire, and for the next week and a half, we just aren’t getting that. The water is sitting at a notably warm 69°F, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s about the only silver lining for a while.

The story for the first nine or ten days is basically no surf worth chasing. There’s some tiny, weak energy (combined energy around 41) on Sunday morning, the 16th of August, with a 0.6m (2ft) W windswell and a short period of 8 seconds, but the wind is a messy cross-off. It’s clean, but it's just too small to get excited about. After that, from Monday the 17th right through to around Thursday the 27th of August, it’s a grim run. The swell stays tiny—under 0.5m (2ft) or just small 0.7m (2ft) to 1.0m (3ft) slop—and the wind is nearly always cross-on or onshore. Most of these days get a zero rating because the conditions are just poor. There’s a brief moment on the morning of Saturday the 22nd where it’s clean with a cross-off breeze, but it’s only 0.5m (2ft), and there’s just not enough power.

Now, the first real flicker of life comes on the morning of Saturday the 29th of August. That’s the standout in this whole outlook. We’ve got a 1.9m (6ft) groundswell from the WNW with a period of 9 seconds. The combined energy jumps to 910 (strong wave energy) so there’s finally some grunt. The wind is a clean cross-off (E at 12 mph). That is a morning to watch if you're an experienced surfer. Anything over 1.5m (5ft) starts getting too big for beginners, and at 1.9m (6ft) with that punch, it’s for the crew who know what they’re doing. The only bummer is the 9-second period at a beach-and-reef break might mean it closes out a bit, but that’s a trade-off we’ll take for some real size and clean conditions.

Following that, the morning of Monday the 31st of August shows some promise with 1.3m (4ft) from the WSW and clean cross-off winds, but the energy is moderate (223) and the rating is only marginal, so it’s not as solid. The afternoon of Sunday the 30th of August actually goes glassy with a 1.1m (4ft) swell, which would be beautiful for the right tide, but the swell period is a short 7 seconds, so the waves will be weak and crumbly.

Bottom line: Don’t bother paddling out until the 29th. That Saturday morning is the only time in the next two weeks where the stars align for something fun. Everything else is a skunk.

- Rusty

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