Indian River (Southside) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s talk about what’s cooking for the next couple of weeks. We’re looking at a pretty quiet stretch for Indian River (Southside), so don’t expect any fireworks.

Right now, the water is sitting at 25°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year. For the first few days, the swell is tiny – we’re talking 0.4m to 0.6m with periods that are mostly short, around 8 seconds or less. Combined wave energy is just 17, which is weak. Monday the 31st is glassy in the morning from the NNE at 5 km/h, but the surf is so small it’s basically flat. Tuesday the 1st of September cleans up with offshore W wind at 5 km/h in the morning, but still only 0.4m of SE swell. The swell is weak and the waves are poor.

The pattern is pretty grim. There’s a small bump on Wednesday the 2nd – 0.6m of ESE swell with a longer period of 11 seconds, combined energy up to 86. But the NE wind is blowing 20 km/h cross-onshore, making it choppy and not really worth paddling out for. That bump fades quickly. Thursday the 3rd has glassy conditions again with 0.5m SE swell, but it’s just not enough push to get excited about. The whole first week is a write-off for decent surf.

Heading into the second week, things don't improve much. There’s a tiny pulse on Sunday the 6th of September with ENE swell hitting 1.2m in the afternoon – combined energy of 150 – but it’s onshore E wind at 15 km/h making a mess of it. The period is only 7 seconds. Not a good look. Monday the 7th has a clean morning with 0.8m ENE swell and a period of 9 seconds, combined energy of 104, and glassy WNW wind. That’s "surfable but very ordinary" – if you’re desperate for a slide, you could catch a few, but it’s not going to get the heart racing.

After that, it’s back to tiny, weak swell with lousy wind until the end of the forecast. Friday the 11th of September has a brief chance with 1.0m clean south swell in the afternoon, period of just 5 seconds, and cross-off NNW wind at 10 km/h. Combined energy is 61. It's there, but it’s sloppy and disorganized.

There’s no standout period here. Nothing even close to a day worth highlighting. If you’re a beginner, the conditions are never too big – most days are under 1m – so that’s not a concern, but the quality is rotten. The forecast is reliable for the near-term because it’s all so consistently poor. For the second week, it’s the same story: small and weak. Honestly, for a beach/jetty setup with this much wind and tiny swell, it looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer. There’s a blank run of poor surf for basically the entire 16-day window.

Stay patient. It can’t stay this flat forever.

Rusty

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