Horse Trails Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, gather round. Rusty here. Let’s talk about Horse Trails over the next couple of weeks. It’s gonna be a bit of a mixed bag, but there are some serious windows if you play it right.

First thing you need to know: the water is running cold. We’re talking 55° at the start, which is a solid 4° colder than usual for this time of year. That’s not just a little nip in the air, that’s a full-on wetsuit, hood, and booties kind of deal. Don’t get caught out there shivering.

Now, the opening act. Friday the 7th has some serious size pushing in – the combined swell energy is a stout 4370, with an 12ft SW swell. But that’s the problem. It’s too much juice for this sandbar. It’s going to be a washing machine. We need to let that pulse settle before we even think about paddling out.

Saturday the 8th is where the window starts to open. The morning is looking glassy with a light NNW breeze, and we’ve got a clean 8ft SW groundswell at 13 seconds. That’s the one to get. It’s got power, it’s got shape, and with that glass, Horse Trails will be lining up nicely. This is the stand-out moment of the first week. The afternoon brings more size again, back up to 12ft, and it just gets too big for this break again. So really, it’s a morning mission.

Sunday the 9th is a complete write-off. A fresh SSE breeze is going to shred it into a lumpy, cross-chop mess. Don't even bother.

The start of the next week is a bit of a lull. Monday the 10th has waves but they’re on the marginal side, and the wind is on it. Tuesday the 11th is much better. We’ve got a clean 7ft SSW groundswell in the morning with a gentle offshore E breeze. That’s a great combo – clean, offshore, and some push. Wednesday and Thursday the 12th and 13th look even better on the quality front. The swell stays solid, around 7ft, with a very long 18-second period WSW groundswell on Wednesday. This is some serious, lined-up energy. The wind is light offshore or cross-offshore, keeping the face clean. This is your other big window. Get on it. For you experienced folks, this is where it’s at. The long period might make it wall a bit at a beach break, but at Horse Trails, it should be holding its shape. Friday the 14th is still good, a bit smaller at 6ft, but clean and fun.

The weekend rolls around and Saturday the 15th morning is another clean one with a 7ft WSW groundswell. Good chance to get back out there. The afternoon gets a bit questionable with an onshore breeze.

Next week, things start to get uncertain and we are just looking at a slow drop in swell. The surf is there, but it’s not going to be as clean or as powerful. We’re looking at 6ft to 7ft of WSW swell, but the wind is inconsistent, switching around. The early mornings are your best bet, like Tuesday the 18th morning with a cross-offshore breeze. But the afternoons are looking mixed. Honestly, the period from the 16th to the 20th is mostly about finding a clean bank and a tide that works. It’s not a time for heroics.

And then, hold onto your boards, because the swell machine re-fires in a big way on the 21st and 22nd of August. We’re not talking about a fun-size swell here. By Saturday the 22nd, we're looking at a massive 21ft WSW swell with a combined energy reading of 13056 – that’s a full-on, hold-onto-your-life, big-wave event. This is for experts only, and honestly, it’s going to be way over the head and closing out at Horse Trails. It’s the kind of day you watch from the cliff and thank the ocean for the show. The wind is cross-shore on it, too, so the quality is going to be poor. It looks like a better day for kite-surfing than paddling a shortboard.

So, there you have it. The two real standouts are Saturday morning the 8th for that glassy, powerful start, and then Tuesday through Thursday the 12th-13th for the long-period, high-quality groundswell. The second week is a bit more of a promise than a guarantee. Keep your eyes on the forecast, but those are the days I’d be clearing my schedule for.

Rusty, out.

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