Ilha Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – this outlook for Ilha is a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve got a solid run of surf coming, but the wind is going to be a pain for most of it. The water’s sitting at 70°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so that’s a nice bonus.

The pattern looks like this: the first few days are pretty much a write-off. Saturday the 8th through Tuesday the 11th all have poor surf conditions. Onshore winds and moderate chop, swells around 3ft to 5ft from the south and SSE, but it’s messy. The combined swell energy is moderate (between 238 and 857), but it just doesn’t matter with the wind.

Then things start to look up. Wednesday the 12th morning is the first real highlight. Ilha gets a 4ft south swell (12 seconds) with glassy conditions – a light NNE breeze at 3 mph. It’s not huge, but it’ll be clean and fun for intermediates. Combined swell energy at 457 (moderate). The afternoon gets choppy again, so get in early.

Thursday the 13th morning is another glassy one: a smaller 3ft SSE swell (12 seconds). Again, clean as a whistle. But the real standout of the whole outlook is Friday the 14th morning. We score a 4ft SSE swell (14 seconds) with a light cross-offshore wind from the west at 6 mph. That is a long-period groundswell, which should set up nicely on the reef, offering clean, well-shaped waves. Combined energy is 548 (moderate). That’s the session to aim for. The afternoon gets blown out, so stick to the morning.

Saturday the 15th morning is glassy again with a 4ft south swell (12 seconds) – clean, but nothing special. Sunday the 16th morning has another small glassy window: 3ft SSE swell (11 seconds). After that, from Monday the 17th onward, the swell drops off and the periods get short (7-8 seconds). There are a few clean-ish mornings (Monday 17th with a 4ft ESE swell at 7 seconds, Tuesday 18th with a 3ft ESE at 8 seconds), but the wave quality is ordinary at best. The combined energy drops into the low 100s and even below 100 by Wednesday the 19th. It’s pretty flat from the 20th to the 23rd, with only tiny, weak swells. That’s a long gap of poor surf, so don’t get your hopes up for the second week.

Overall, your best bet is Friday the 14th morning at Ilha. It’s not the biggest swell, but that long-period S/SSE groundswell with cross-offshore wind will give you the cleanest, best-shaped waves of the window. The glassy mornings on the 12th and 13th are decent fallback options for a quiet paddle.

Stay stoked, Rusty.

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