Jacaraipe Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let me break this down for you. This is Rusty.

First up, looking at the whole 16-day window, to be honest, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve got some decent windows early on, but then a long stretch of lumpy, onshore junk that’ll test your patience. The first real standout is going to be Tuesday morning, August 25th, at Jacaraipe. That’s the session you’d be marking on your calendar if you can get out. The swell is a clean 4 ft from the SSE with a lovely 15-second period – that’s a solid groundswell, loads of energy (690 combined energy). With a light N wind coming cross-offshore, the water’s going to be clean. This spot is a sandbar, fairly consistent, but crowds are possible here. The water temp is 72°, which is about 2° colder than normal for this time of year, so a bit cooler than usual for the locals. That morning is your pick of the forecast.

Moving through the week, Wednesday the 26th morning has another clean window with 3 ft swell from the SSE (611 combined energy) and N cross-off winds. It’s clean, but the forecast calls it marginal, so it’s not going to be as punchy as Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon both get blown out by onshore winds, so steer clear.

Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th mornings hold some swell around 4 ft to 6 ft, but the winds are shifting to cross or cross-off, and the wave quality is rated as marginal or poor. The combined energy values are high (over 1000 on Thursday morning), so there’s plenty of water moving, but the conditions just aren’t clean for paddle surfing.

Then we hit a long, rough patch. From Friday afternoon August 28th all the way through until Tuesday morning September 1st, it’s pretty much all poor surf conditions. The winds are howling from the NE and N, mostly cross-on or strong cross-shore, creating lumpy, choppy messes. The swell mixes up with short periods, mostly around 5-7 seconds, weak energy. This stretch is nearly 5 days of nothing worth paddling out for, especially if you like clean waves.

Finally, there’s a glimmer on Tuesday morning, September 1st. For a brief moment, the winds go glassy with a southerly light air, and there’s 4 ft of ENE swell (230 combined energy). The report says expect good surf conditions, so if you’re desperate for a surf and the tides line up, that could be a pleasant surprise after the dry spell. But the period is short at 7 seconds, so it’ll be a bit bumpy on the face.

After that, the outlook for the rest of the first week of September is poor again. Strong onshore winds and lumpy conditions dominate. There’s a slim chance on Monday morning September 7th: a clean 4 ft SSE swell with a 10-second period (239 combined energy) and light N cross-off winds. That one is promising but it’s over a week away, so take it with a grain of salt. The short period (10 secs) is okay, but the heavy onshore forecast for later that day will likely spoil it.

All in all, the best bet is Tuesday morning August 25th. It’s clean, decent size, and the groundswell will have some push. Tuesday morning September 1st is a wildcard if there’s any tide working. For the rest, it’s a lot of wind and not much to write home about.

This is Rusty, signing off.

Read more