Ketewel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cooking for Ketewel.

Straight up, the next week and a half is a bit of a grind. We’ve got a solid, long-period groundswell from the SSW rolling in, but the wind is the story – and not a good one. For the first stretch, from Wednesday the 19th right through to the morning of Wednesday the 26th, it’s a constant cross-onshore breeze, mostly from the SE, keeping the surface chopped up and messy. The wave energy is moderate to strong – you’re looking at numbers like 3073 on Wednesday morning – but the wind state means it’s gonna be bumpy and hard to enjoy.

Ketewel is a reef break, so it needs clean conditions to shine, and it’s simply not getting them for most of this run. The swell sits around 5ft to 8ft, with periods mostly in the 15 to 18 second range – that’s proper groundswell energy, but it’s being wasted. On Friday the 21st, the swell drops a touch to 6ft, but the cross-onshore is still there, so it’s marginal at best. Thursday the 27th afternoon shows a brief drop in wind to just a light breeze from the SSE, with a clean 3ft swell and a very long period of 19 seconds – that’s a hint of what could be, but the energy is still weak (1170).

The water temp is sitting at 80°F with an anomaly of just 0.5°F – about as average as it gets for this time of year.

The real stand-out window doesn’t arrive until Friday the 28th of August. Morning brings a light cross-onshore breeze, which is a big improvement, and the swell kicks back up to 7ft from the SSW, period 16 seconds. The wave energy jumps to 2384 – solid, moderate strength. It’s still not perfectly offshore, but it’s the cleanest and most powerful the reef will see in this whole run. The wind is light enough that the surface should have just small ripples, making it far more surfable than anything before it.

After that, conditions slowly fade again. Saturday the 29th morning still holds some hope with light winds and 5ft swell, but by the afternoon the breeze picks up and the quality drops. The end of the run, into early September, brings another bump in swell on the 31st and 1st, with a very long period of 20-22 seconds and wave energy up over 3000, but once again it’s cross-onshore, chopping up what could be a beautiful wave.

If you’re going to paddle out, make it Friday the 28th of August. That’s your best shot. The rest is mostly frustrating, especially for a reef that needs a clean face. The inconsistent nature of Ketewel doesn’t help either – when the wind’s on it, there are better places to be.

Rusty.

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