Hikkaduwa (A-Frame) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get real about the surf for the next couple of weeks. It’s a bit of a rough stretch, so don’t get your hopes up too high. We’ve got a lot of cross-onshore and onshore wind, and that’s going to chop things up nearly every day.

The first few days are pretty grim. Tuesday and Wednesday, the swell is around 5ft to 6ft, but it’s coming in with a moderate breeze that’s making it a messy, choppy mess. There’s just no clean face to work with. It’s frustrating because there’s some size, but the wind is killing it.

Thursday and Friday don’t get much better. The wind stays on or cross-on, and the swell stays in that 3ft to 5ft range. Periods are mixed, but the quality is poor. Honestly, it’s one of those times where you’re better off doing something else.

Now, the weekend kicks up a bit more size. Saturday (19 September) sees the swell jump to 7ft, and it’s coming from the SSW with a 16-second period. That’s got some punch, but the wind is still a cross-onshore 25 km/h, so it’s going to be lumpy and hard to ride. Sunday has similar energy, with 7ft, but again, the onshore wind just ruins the potential. The combined energy is strong, but it doesn’t matter when the surface is all chopped up. This is a case where, with that much swell and messy wind, it might be more interesting for the kite surfers than us paddle surfers. For anyone who isn’t an expert, this size is already getting too big, and the conditions are not doing us any favors.

Early next week, Monday and Tuesday, the swell backs off a bit to 5ft to 6ft, but the wind stays onshore. The period drops to 13 seconds, and it’s just a constant battle against the chop. No thanks. And the forecast is just more of the same – risk of thunderstorms and onshore wind.

The most promising – and I use that term loosely – is around the 26th of September. There’s a bigger, longer-period swell pushing through. The morning has 4ft from the SSW with a 22-second period, and the afternoon builds to 6ft with a 21-second period. The combined energy is substantial there, which tells you there’s a lot of water moving. But again, the wind is still onshore at 20 km/h, though it might be a touch lighter. This is the most interesting window we’ve got, but it’s still going to be a battle. Long period like that, though, tends to be better at points and reefs – this break is a reef setup, so it might hold up a bit better than a beach break, but you’ll still have to fight the wind.

After that, it’s mostly downhill. The end of the month just fades out with poor conditions and a lot of thunderstorms.

So, here’s the bottom line. There’s no standout day in this forecast. The closest we get to anything decent is the 26th. The rest is a write-off. We’ve had better, and we’ll have better again. But for now, keep the board in the car and maybe watch the horizon. This run of bad wind and messy surf won’t last forever – it never does.

Stay salty.

Rusty

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