Horace Caldwell Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s break this one down. Horace Caldwell Pier is looking like a tough stretch over the next 16 days. The whole run is dominated by weak, short-period slop from the SE or SSE, with wind that’s either cross-onshore or onshore for the majority of the time, keeping things choppy and messy. The combined swell energy sits in the low teens to low thirties for the first couple of weeks – that’s weak energy – and the period is mostly just 4 or 5 seconds. Nothing but windswell.

Because of this, there are no true standouts. The entire block from Sunday, August 23rd, through Friday, September 4th, is a bust. Every session shows “poor surf conditions” with a score of 0 out of 10. The swell is tiny – between 0.7ft and 3ft – and the onshore breeze is relentless. Not worth paddling out.

The first hint of a chance comes on Saturday, September 5th, in the morning. We get a brief moment of glassy conditions with a slack northerly wind, and the swell bumps up to 4ft from the SSE with a period of 6 seconds. The combined energy reaches 77 – still weak, but it’s a step up. The report calls it “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions”. For a beginner break that’s fairly consistent, it’s marginal, but it’s the best we see for weeks.

The following morning, Sunday, September 6th, a cross-offshore wind from the west at 12 mph kicks in, and the swell energy jumps to 105 (moderate). The wave height is 3ft from the SE at 6 seconds, and conditions are described as “clean”. That’s a better window for a more experienced beginner or intermediate because the offshore flow will clean up the faces nicely.

Then on Monday, September 7th, the morning glass-off is back with a WNW breeze at 3 mph. The swell is 3ft, period 6 seconds, but the energy drops back to 64. It’s another clean, glassy morning, but with weak, short-period waves.

For a beach/pier setup like this, the swell direction is almost always SE or SSE, which is fine, but the period never gets long enough to deliver any real punch or shape. Crowds are listed as “sometimes”, so you might get a few locals out on those glassy mornings, but nothing crazy.

The water temperature is 85°F with a positive anomaly of 1°, so it’s a touch warmer than average for the time of year – nothing unusual.

In short, for the first two weeks, don’t bother. The pick of the entire outlook is the Saturday morning (September 5th) and Monday morning (September 7th), when it goes glassy, offering clean but weak 3ft to 4ft waves. For beginners, it’s rideable. For anyone looking for push, you’ll be waiting a long time. The period is too short for this to be anything special, and the energy is weak. The spot is fairly consistent, so it tends not to stay this poor forever, but right now, it’s a waiting game.

- Rusty

Read more