Haardebaai Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, let’s have a look at what’s on offer for Haardebaai, a solid reef setup that needs the right key to wind and swell.

Overall, the next 16 days are a bit of a mixed bag. There’s some serious size on the horizon, but plenty of wind and dodgy conditions in between. The standout windows are clear, though, and worth waiting for.

We kick off with a bit of a waiting game. Thursday the 20th has some serious swell – 12 ft from the SW with a combined wave energy of 3903 (strong) – but it’s onshore, so save your energy. Friday continues pretty grim with cross-onshore winds and dropping swell. Not worth paddling out.

Saturday the 22nd is where things start to look interesting. We get a morning offshore breeze from the NW, with swell easing to 4 ft from the SSW and a moderate combined energy of 749. It’s clean, and that offshore wind will shape up the reef nicely. The afternoon sees a 7 ft SW swell with a gentle cross-off breeze and combined energy of 975, still clean. This is a good window for the experienced crew, but keep your eyes open for others.

Sunday and Monday are some of the best on offer. Monday, after a few days of poor onshore slop, we get a glassy morning on the 26th with 5 ft of WSW swell (combined energy 1011), and then an absolute gem on the 26th afternoon – dead glass with 4 ft WSW swell (843). That’s as clean as it gets. If you can sneak out midweek, do it.

Looking further ahead, the big news is Friday the 28th morning. Haardebaai lines up with 8 ft of WSW swell, period of 15 seconds (very long groundswell), and a light offshore from the NW. Combined energy is a meaty 2743. That’s a standout. The afternoon holds similar size but shifts to a cross-off breeze. This is for experts only – that’s a lot of water moving.

Another absolute belter arrives on Tuesday the 1st of September. Morning and afternoon both deliver 10 ft to 12 ft SW swell with 15-second periods, clean offshore WNW wind around 20 km/h, and combined energy readings of 4301 and 5651 – that is pumping. Only for the experienced, but if you know the reef, this will be the session of the window.

The following days drop off as wind pipes up. A near gale on the 2nd makes it a no-go. Further out, the 4th of September gives a final clean, glassy morning with 4 ft WSW swell (combined energy 711) and a slight offshore breeze – a nice mellow finisher if you can wait.

The water temp is around 58°F, which is a bit colder than usual for this time of year, so a good hood and booties are on the cards.

Overall, the best windows are the 26th August (glassy) and the 28th August morning, with the 1st September being the true stand-out if you can handle the size.

Rusty.

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