Hunting Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get this out there, folks. It’s Rusty.

Honestly, it’s been a flat, sloppy stretch of nothing out at Hunting Island. If you’ve had the boards in the car, you’ve been wasting the gas. The water is a balmy 85.3°F, which is more than two degrees warmer than usual for this time of year, so it feels like a bath out there. But the waves? Man, they just haven’t shown up. The start of this outlook is a bummer: from Wednesday afternoon through next Tuesday (the 19th), it’s a long grind of tiny, junky surf. We're talking knee-high slop with short-period wind swell. The combined energy is weak, mostly in the 20s and 50s (a max of 145 on that first afternoon). You’d be better off doing anything else than paddling out. There are a few clean windows with light offshore breezes, and Saturday the 12th is dead glassy, but it’s all for nothing when the swell is a measly 1.5ft. It’s just not surf.

But hold on. Things are about to change.

It’s not until the morning of Sunday, September 20th, that things actually start to get interesting. That’s when a proper pulse of east-northeast swell rolls in. The height jumps to 6.9ft with a light cross-offshore breeze. The energy goes from a puddle to a powerhouse, jumping all the way up to 469, which is a huge jump. The period is a bit short, around 8 seconds, but that’s okay. This is the most promising surf we’ve seen in this entire run. It’s bigger than 5ft, so it’s not for the beginners, but for the rest of us, it’s a go. The break at Hunting Island is a fairly consistent, exposed beach break, so this size will be pushing it, but it’s clean and should have some fun, punchy walls. This is the standout. Then Monday morning (September 21st) gets even bigger, with 7.5ft of east swell and the energy cranking up to 885. The period stretches out to a more powerful 9 seconds. However, the wind swings onshore from the east. It’s going to be a lot more critical, and the quality will drop. This size is getting into expert-only territory. The better call is to paddle out Sunday morning and get it while it’s clean. The wind is just too messy on Monday.

The mid-week looks like a washout again, with conditions getting chopped up by strong winds, but a little glimmer of hope appears Tuesday afternoon (September 22nd). The swell eases to a still-fun 5.6ft from the east-northeast. The energy is still strong at 686, and it goes glassy. That’s a rare combo. It’ll be worth checking, for sure. It gets messy again on Wednesday, and then it looks like it fades back to the small stuff for the longer term. So, to call it: that Sunday morning the 20th is the one. Get it while you can, because it’s a long ride between waves around here.

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