Hobe Sound/The Refuge Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking for the next couple of weeks at Hobe Sound/The Refuge.

Honestly, I’ve gotta level with you – this stretch is looking pretty flat. The finder is giving us a big fat zero for the entire 16-day window. That’s a tough run, but around here, blank spells like this do happen. It’s a quiet period, and the water is sitting at about 85°, which is pretty much normal for this time of year – nothing weird there.

We start from Saturday, 25 July, and it’s all small stuff. The Saturday morning shows a tiny 1ft swell from the ENE with a short period of 8 seconds, and a light south wind making it cross-shore. The combined energy is only 24 (very weak). It’s not rideable in any meaningful way. That afternoon the wind shifts cross-onshore, and the swell stays the same – just messy.

Sunday, 26 July, the swell drops further to 1.0ft. The morning is clean with a light offshore wind from the west, but the wave energy is just 13. It’s flat, plain and simple. Afternoon sees a sea breeze switch onshore and the swell is barely 1ft – no good.

The whole first week is a repeat of tiny swell, short period, and weak energy. By Tuesday, 28 July, the swell is down to 0.7ft and the energy is just 10. Even with clean offshore winds, there’s nothing to push you down the line. The pattern continues through to the end of July and into the first days of August. The swell barely flickers above 0.7ft, and the energy never gets out of the single or low double digits.

We finally see a bit of a bump on Thursday, 6 August. The swell picks up to 3ft from the E, with a period of 5 seconds – that’s short and weak. The energy hits 41 (still weak). The wind is light cross-onshore, so it’s not clean, but at least there’s something on the surface. By the afternoon, the swell is 4ft with energy at 62 – still weak, and the wind is building into a gentle cross-onshore chop. It’s not surfable in any quality way.

Friday, 7 August, is the biggest we see, with a 3ft swell from the ESE and a period of 5 seconds in the morning. Energy hits 74 – still weak. The wind is light cross-shore, so it’s not terrible, but the period is so short the waves will be jumbled and weak. The afternoon is even smaller, at 3ft but with an onshore wind.

After that, it drops back to 1.0ft for the rest of the forecast. By Sunday, 9 August, there’s a 1.0ft NE swell with a period of 10 seconds, which is a bit longer, but there’s no energy behind it (20). The wind is light cross-shore, but it’s just too small.

There isn’t a single standout day here. No break worth paddling for. The best we can say is Thursday, 6 August and Friday, 7 August have a little more water moving, but it’s still poor, short-period junk. For a point break or reef, you’d want a longer period, but this is a beach and reef setup with tiny, weak swell. Honestly, this setup looks more interesting for a kite than a surfboard.

Hang in there – it’s a quiet patch, but it never stays this way forever.
Rusty.

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