Hobe Sound/The Refuge Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – the next couple of weeks are looking pretty flat and sad for the Hobe Sound/The Refuge area. We’ve got a long stretch of nothingburgers on the menu before anything remotely rideable shows up.

The 16-day window kicks off with a real dud. From Monday the 24th of August all the way through to the end of the month, it’s tiny, messy, and blown out. The combined swell energy is barely registering (7 to 47), with most days offering nothing but knee-high dribble or less. Winds are mostly onshore or cross-onshore, chopping up whatever little bump there is. That run of poor conditions stretches well into the first week of September too. Honestly, for the first ten days or so, you’re better off putting the board away and doing something else. There’s a big gap with zero worthwhile surf.

We finally get a tiny flicker of hope on Friday morning, the 4th of September. The winds will swing cross-offshore from the WSW, cleaning things up nicely. We’re talking about a tiny 2ft swell wrapping in from the E, with a moderate combined energy (80) – it’s not going to blow your mind, but it’ll be the first clean, surfable wave we’ve seen. The break is "fairly consistent" for a beach and reef setup, and the water temp is right around average for this time of year, sitting at 86°.

There’s a little tease on Monday the 7th of September. The early morning looks glassy with zero wind and a 2ft pulse from the NNE. That combined energy is still weak (92), but glassy conditions are gold. It’s a "fairly consistent" spot, so you might snag a clean little bank if you’re keen. Just know the afternoon turns onshore and messy again.

The most promising window arrives on Tuesday the 8th, but it comes with a major caveat. A bigger swell builds through the day, hitting 3ft to 4ft from the NE by Tuesday afternoon, with combined energy climbing into the moderate range (202). Sounds good, right? The problem is the wind is onshore from the E and ESE, making it a choppy, closed-out mess. This swell has a longer period (10 seconds) and decent energy, but with the onshore wind and the break’s beach-and-reef nature, it honestly looks more interesting for a kite session than a paddle. Only the experts might find something if they’re desperate, but it’s not recommended for the average surfer.

So, to wrap it up: a long flat spell, a tiny clean-up on the 4th, a glassy morning on the 7th, and a bigger but blown-out swell on the 8th. No true standouts here.

Rusty.

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