Ketewel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the table for Ketewel over these next couple of weeks.

Honestly, it’s a pretty grim outlook for the whole period. We’ve got a solid groundswell running from the SSW, but the wind is the killer – it’s stuck in a cross-on pattern from the east and southeast nearly every day, which means the face is going to be chopped up and messy. The water temp is sitting at 82° with a water temp anomaly of 2°, so it’s about average for the time of year. But that’s about the only thing that’s working for us.

The first notable surf kicks off Saturday, July 4th, with a 6ft swell out of the SSW at a long 16-second period. That’s proper groundswell energy, 1777 (very strong) combined energy. But the cross-on wind from the ESE at 9 mph is going to make it ugly. The score is zero – the conditions are just poor. That afternoon and straight through Sunday, the same story: 6ft to 6ft SSW swell, 14-15 second period, but cross-on winds keep it from cleaning up. These are marginal at best.

Monday the 6th sees the energy spike a bit with 2038 (very strong) on the afternoon, but the wind picks up to a moderate breeze at 12 mph, cross-on, making it choppy. Still rubbish.

From Tuesday the 7th through to Thursday the 9th, we’re stuck with moderate cross-on breezes, even some rain showers, and the swell stays around 4ft to 6ft. It’s all zeros and ones on the score. Not worth paddling out.

Then we hit a real dead zone. From Friday the 10th right through to Sunday the 19th, the scores are consistently zero or one. The swell drops significantly by Sunday the 12th, down to 2ft, and even though the period goes very long on the 13th – 21 seconds – the swell height is only 2ft. That’s a whisper for a wave. The energy plummets to 310 (weak) by the 12th afternoon. There is a bit of a bump in the afternoon of Saturday the 18th with 5ft SSW swell and a light breeze, but it’s still cross-on and the score is zero.

The only bright spot on the whole horizon is the last day of the forecast, Sunday the 19th. We’ve got a 6ft SSW swell with a 15-second period, and the wind is a light breeze from the SSW at 6 to 9 mph. The combined energy reads 1302 to 1412 (strong). Even though it’s still cross-on, it’s a light breeze, so it won’t mess the surface up too much. This is the closest we get to something rideable, and it’s only marginal at best. For a reef break that’s sheltered from the south, this is a long, patient wait for a very short window.

No standout sessions here, folks. A blank run like this is fairly normal for Ketewel when the trades are locked in. If you’ve got a kite, it might be more interesting than a paddle board right now, because the wind is consistent enough, but for us surfers, it’s a frustrating stretch.

Rusty.

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