Inchydoney Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I’m looking at the next couple of weeks here at Inchydoney. Honestly, I gotta tell you straight up: it’s a pretty grim stretch for getting wet. There’s a whole lot of nothing on offer, and the forecast doesn’t give us much to get excited about for a long time.

The water temperature at Inchydoney right now is sitting at about 66°, which is a full 5° warmer than what’s normal for this time of year. That’s a proper anomaly – the water’s feeling like a warm bath compared to usual, which is something, but it’s not much comfort when the waves are basically missing.

We’re looking at a massive gap of about a week with no real surf. The first few days are just tiny, messy, and blown out. Tuesday the 28th and Wednesday the 29th are a write-off: we’re talking knee-high slop with a stiff onshore wind, poor quality, and a combined energy reading of just 26 – that’s weak. Thursday the 30th cleans up a touch with a light offshore, but the swell drops to about 1ft – barely a ripple. That pattern holds right through to the end of the week and into the start of August. Saturday the 1st has a glassy morning with 1ft, which would be dreamy if there was any power behind it, but there isn’t.

Then on Sunday the 2nd, things start to change. The afternoon shows a jump to 3ft from the SW, and the combined energy hits 151 (moderate). It’s still onshore and choppy, but at least there’s some life. Monday the 3rd is the first real spike: we get about 6ft from the SSW early in the morning. That’s a solid size, moving into intermediate territory, but the period is only 8 seconds – short-period windswell – and the wind is directly onshore. That’ll make for a lumpy, hard-to-read wave at this river mouth. The energy reading is 390 (moderate-strong), so there’s grunt, but it’s not clean. It’s more of a messy push than a lined-up wave. Tuesday the 4th drops back to about 3ft and stays cross-shore and lumpy. Not great.

The real standout, if you can call it that, is the stretch from the 9th to the 10th of August. On Sunday the 9th, we’ve got 3ft-4ft from the WSW and SW, with a period of 10 seconds – that’s a proper groundswell. The wind turns offshore from the NW at 30-35 km/h (about 19-22 mph), and the conditions are described as “clean.” The energy is solid at 243 (moderate-strong). For Inchydoney, a river break, a longer-period swell like this can be tricky – it tends to jack up and close out – but with that clean offshore wind, it could still offer some fun, walled-up corners for the experienced crew. Monday the 10th looks similar, with 4ft in the morning and clean offshore winds. That’s your best bet in this whole outlook.

For absolute beginners, avoid the 6ft day on Monday the 3rd – that’s too much push. The 3ft-4ft days on the 9th and 10th are more manageable but still need some skill.

Everything after that fades fast back to flatness by the 12th. Overall, it’s a lean period. You wait a week for the swell to show up, and when it does, it’s either messy or only just okay. The 9th and 10th are your only real shots, and even then, keep your expectations in check. Conditions can always turn, but right now, it’s a waiting game.

Rusty.

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