Junkyards Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, this is Rusty. Let’s talk about what we’re looking at for Junkyards over the next couple of weeks.

Right out of the gate, I have to be straight with you. It’s a tough start. The beginning of the period is a write-off for any sort of decent surf. We’ve got a few days of solid wind and messy conditions, and nothing worth paddling out for. The water temp is sitting at 87°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so you won’t be cold if you do get wet, but the waves just aren’t there.

For the first several days, it’s mostly poor surf conditions with strong cross-off and cross-onshore breezes. We do see a massive spike in energy from Friday 7th onward with a dangerous NW and then S swell – we’re talking combined energy in the thousands and tens of thousands (25150, 48215, 55634). The swell heights climb way past the 8 ft mark, making it expert territory only. But the real killer is the wind. We get hurricane-force and violent storm-force cross-shore and cross-onshore winds. Even with the size and period (12 to 16 seconds), it’s a wild, blown-out mess. Not for paddling. If you’re into kiting, the setup from Friday 7th through Sunday 9th might get your attention, but for a surfboard? Forget it.

That stretch of giant, dangerous swell and messy winds hangs around through Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th, with swell dropping from 13 ft down to 8 ft. Still cross-onshore and lumpy. Not surfable. We get a bit of a breather on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th with cleaner winds and onshores turning glassy, but the swell drops away to just 5 ft to 7 ft, and the energy is weak (985, 461). The guidance calls it marginal or poor. Nothing to get excited about.

There is a long lull after that. From Friday 14th through to Wednesday 19th it’s pretty grim. Swell is tiny (1 ft to 4 ft), mostly poor conditions, cross-chop, and then a brief period of glassy conditions on Monday 17th with 3 ft SSW swell. Still, that’s ordinary surf for Junkyards.

Now, if you’ve got patience, there’s one stand-out window. It’s a long-range call, so take it with a grain of salt, but Thursday 20th looks like the best of the entire 16-day run. We’ve got a clean 10 ft swell coming from the SSE, with a period of 9 seconds. The combined energy jumps back up to 1635, which is moderate, and the wind is clean cross-off. This is the one to keep your eye on. It’s the only time the combination of size, direction and wind line up close to what Junkyards wants. The crowd factor is listed as “sometimes” so you might have some company if it fires.

So in short: we’ve got a big, dangerous, windy mess early on, a long flat spell in the middle, and one promising but distant hope on Thursday 20th. It’s not all bad out here – forecasts can change.

Stay safe, keep an eye on that 20th.

Rusty.

Read more