L Jetty Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I gotta give it to you straight. Looking at the next 16 days for L Jetty, the story is mostly one of waiting, with a few flickers that might get your heart racing but will likely leave you frustrated.

Overall, it’s a pretty flat and messy run. The first solid week is borderline grim. The real energy doesn’t show up until the very end of the run, but by then, the wind is gonna wreck it for paddling.

Let’s start with the bright spot, and it’s a lonely one. We’ve got a short window on Thursday, September 10th. The morning has some weak, short-period swell from the S around 3ft (combined energy of all swells directed here is 57), but we get a clean offshore wind from the W at 9 mph. It’s not gonna be a world-beater, but it’s the most rideable it gets. The afternoon is even better for that session: the wind goes glassy from the SW at 3 mph, the swell bumps up to a tiny 3ft, and the energy climbs to a moderate 124. The water is sitting at a much warmer than normal 74°, which is a nice bonus. It’s small and clean, a fun little cruiser.

The rest of that first week and into the next is a frustrating stretch. From Friday, September 11th through to about Thursday, September 18th, it’s a desert. The swell is tiny, period is short, and the wind is all over the place—cross-shore, onshore, you name it. There’s a few sessions (like Sunday morning the 13th) with clean-ish wind again, but the swell is so weak it’s barely a bump. You’d spend more time floating than riding.

Then we get a big shift. Around Monday, September 21st and Tuesday, September 22nd, the energy number jumps into a strong range (366 and 497). The swell height hits 7ft from the ENE with a period of 8 seconds. That’s a lot of water moving around. But—and it’s a big but—the wind is howling. Fresh to gale-force cross-onshore winds (22-40 mph) are gonna turn that swell into a washing machine. For a beach/jetty setup like L Jetty, that’s more of a kite-surfing scene than a paddle-surfing one. The wave quality is gonna be blown out and choppy. It’s powerful, but not for the average surfer.

After that pulse, it drops back to small, weak waves with messy wind through to the 25th of September. The last few days of the run have a little glimmer (like Thursday afternoon the 24th with glassy conditions), but the swell is just too small to get excited about at 2ft.

If you’re looking for a paddle, your best bet is that glassy Thursday afternoon on the 10th. It’s the only time everything lines up even halfway decently. The big swell later on is for the tow-in crew or the windsurfers.

This is a patch that tends to offer blank runs, so don’t be too surprised. Forecasts can change, but right now, keep your expectations low and your wax on the shelf.

- Rusty

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