Indian River (Southside) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here, and I've got the long-range look at Indian River (Southside) for you. It's a bit of a flat spell ahead, so we've got to be honest about it.

Right now, the water is sitting at a very warm 78°, which is nearly 5° above what you'd expect for this time of year – that's pretty unusual, and you'll feel it.

Starting out, you can see the swell energy is weak... basically non-existent for the first week. The combined energy is barely ticking over, with values mostly in the 10 to 70 range – that's very weak (51-73). You've got swells from the E and S directions, but they’re tiny at 0.7ft to 3ft, and the periods are all over the place, mostly short and weak. There's nothing to get excited about, honestly. The wind is mixed – you'll see some cleaner windows like Tuesday morning the 8th with a light offshore W wind, or the Sunday the 13th with glassy conditions, but there's just no wave to ride. The daily notes all say "poor surf conditions." There's a gap of basically zero surf from now until the morning of Monday, September 14th.

Then on September 14th, Monday morning, we finally get a sniff of something. The combined energy climbs to a still low 54, and you get a 2ft swell from the ESE at 9 seconds with a glassy, light SE breeze. The file says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions." It's not a standout by any stretch, just a chance to get wet. That window is short-lived as the wind picks up onshore that afternoon.

The rest of the second week is the same story – small swells, poor conditions. You see a bump in combined energy on September 20th, Sunday morning, hitting 139 – that's moderate energy for a moment – with a 3ft ENE swell at 7 seconds, but it's an onshore E wind, so it'll be a choppy mess. The afternoons are full of cross-off winds but the waves are tiny. The one real highlight, if you can even call it one, is the morning of Monday the 14th. That's the only window where the stars somewhat align for a clean, glassy surf, even if the waves are weak.

This is a tough outlook. Indian River (Southside) is a beach/jetty setup and for an advanced spot, you need the wind to play nice and the swell to have some push. With the swell energy this low, it'll be a long wait. Honestly, when the wind's howling and the swell is messy with this kind of weak energy, it looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Stick with it, though – it never stays this flat forever.

- Rusty

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