Hornitos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s going on with Hornitos over the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, I’m a bit gutted to say it, but the outlook is a tough one. There’s no real stand-out session on the cards. The whole 16-day window is a bit of a struggle. We’ve got a long stretch of marginal to poor conditions, and the first few days are a write-off for any decent surf. The swell is just too inconsistent and weak to get excited about.

Let’s start at the beginning. There’s a gap with no real surf to speak of right through the first part of the period. The first few days are a washout. The water temperature is sitting at 65°F right now, which is *much warmer than normal* for this time of year – that’s over 5°F above average, so it feels like a warm bath.

Come Saturday the 5th, we’ve got a tiny 3ft SW swell at 13 seconds, but the combined energy is only moderate (489). The wind is light, but it’s cross-on, making it choppy. The forecast is calling it “marginal” at best. Sunday the 6th is even smaller at 2ft, and the energy drops to 461. The wind is light again, but it's still cross-on. It’s not worth paddling out for.

The pattern continues all the way through the following week. Swell hangs around 3ft to 4ft, but the period is all over the place, and the wind is often cross-on or onshore. The combined energy stays in the moderate range, between 243 and 418. There’s a brief moment on Tuesday the 8th with a light 3 mph offshore wind, but the swell is just too small and weak to make anything of it. By Wednesday the 9th, the surf conditions are described as “poor.”

As we move into the second week, it gets even worse. The swell drops to 2ft and the period shortens right up. By Thursday the 17th, the combined energy plummets to 135 – that’s weak. The wind is onshore or cross-on, and it’s consistently “poor surf conditions.” The last few days, from the 18th to the 20th, are a total dud, with energy levels barely cracking 100 and swell dropping to 1ft. It’s just not happening.

So, what’s the call? The only break on the table is Hornitos. It’s consistent, but the quality just isn’t there. The swell direction is from the SW, which is what it prefers, but the size and period are poor. The water is unusually warm, but that’s about the only positive. For a beginner, the swell never gets above 5ft, so that’s not a problem, but the cross-on winds and weak, short-period chop make it a messy, frustrating paddle. For an expert, there’s simply no power to work with.

If the wind was strong and the swell had more push, this setup might look interesting for a kite surfer, but as a paddle surfer, I’d save the energy. It’s a blank run, and the forecasts can change, but right now, there’s nothing to get the heart racing.

Rusty.

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