Horace Caldwell Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. I’ve got to be honest with you – this outlook for the next couple of weeks is a bit of a bummer. We’ve got waves on offer, but the conditions just aren't playing nice.

Right now, and for pretty much the entire forecast period, the swell is coming from the SSE or SE. At Horace Caldwell Pier, a beach/pier setup that’s fairly exposed to that direction, we’re looking at small, weak, short-period junk. The swell height sits between 2 ft and 3 ft through the first few days, with a pathetic period of only 4 seconds. The combined wave energy is negligible, sitting at just 13 or so. That’s barely a ripple. On top of that, the wind is either onshore or cross-onshore, making things choppy and messy. The water temp is 84°, which is about average for this time of year with a tiny anomaly of 0.7°.

We don’t see any improvement on the weekend of the 5th and 6th. Still small, weak swell, wrong wind. It’s a full week of this, with the swell bumping up just a touch into the 3 ft to 3 ft range by the 8th and 9th, but the period is still a lousy 5-6 seconds. The wind picks up to a fresh breeze on the 9th, with speeds up to 22 mph, making for lumpy, ugly conditions. From the 3rd to the 10th of July, it's just poor surf conditions every single session.

The second week doesn't get much better. There’s a slight lift in combined energy around the 13th and 17th – we see values hitting 152 and 112 – but that’s still only moderate energy, and the swell remains small, under 4 ft, with a short period. The wind stays unfriendly, mostly cross-onshore or onshore. The 18th of July rounds it out with no real change.

There are no standouts here. Not a single true good option on offer. Every single recorded session is marked with a score of 0 out of 10 and described as “poor surf conditions.” While the spot is fairly consistent in that it will have some lumpy, weak swell, the quality is just not there. For a kite surfer looking for steady wind and small, choppy waves, this might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer, it’s a prolonged blank run. With the crowds listed as “sometimes,” you won’t have to worry about a lineup if you just want to sit in the water, but you won’t be catching anything good. Forecasts can change, but right now, this looks like a long stretch of flat and messy.

Rusty.

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