La Barra Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty. Let’s have a look at what we’ve got for La Barra over the next couple of weeks.

Honestly mate, it’s a tough stretch ahead. The whole 16-day window is filled with poor surf conditions, and there really isn’t a moment I’d recommend paddling out. The first record of any surfable swell size starts on Thursday, 30th July, but even then, it’s a mess.

We kick off on Thursday 30th July afternoon with a 6 ft swell from the NNE, but that’s coming in at a short 7 seconds and the wind is a cross-on from the NNE at 12 mph. It’s already choppy, and the combined energy is moderate (292). Forget it.

Friday 31st July is a bit smaller – 5 ft dropping to 5 ft in the afternoon – but the wind stays cross-shore and the conditions are marginal at best. Scratch that. Saturday morning, 1st August, shows a drop to 4 ft with an onshore breeze, and by afternoon it’s 3 ft with a 16 mph cross-on. Just gets ugly.

From there, we drift into a flat spell. Sunday 2nd August is 3 ft to 4 ft, poor. Monday 3rd sees a slight bump back to 5 ft, but again with poor conditions and a cross-on wind. The combined energy is still moderate (237) but the quality is zero. Tuesday 4th August is basically flat – 1.0 ft with combined energy of only 24. That gap of really weak, unrideable surf lasts for days.

The pattern doesn’t improve. From Wednesday 5th August through to Sunday 9th August, the swell hovers between 4 ft and 4 ft, but the wind never lets up – constant cross-on from the north at 9 to 16 mph. Every session is rated poor. The water temperature at the start of this period was 74° – that’s about 2° warmer than average for the time of year, which is notable but not crazy. Still, not enough to make up for the bad wind.

Towards the second week, there’s a bit more size, but don’t get your hopes up. On Monday 10th August, it pushes to 5 ft, and by Tuesday 11th August we see 6-7 ft from the NNE, with the combined energy jumping to strong levels (433-473). But again – cross-on wind, short period, and the wave comment says poor. That’s just too big and messy for enjoyable paddle surfing. At that size with those winds, the setup might be more interesting for kite surfing than a traditional paddle-in session.

The rest of the week into 14th August continues the same story: 5 ft to 6 ft swell, but always with that cross-on northerly breeze and short period. By Friday 14th August, it’s dropping back to 2 ft and 53 combined energy.

There are no standout sessions here, no hidden gems. La Barra is a beach and reef break that’s very consistent for swell, but that doesn’t matter when the wind and quality are this poor all the way through. The whole 16 days is effectively a write-off for good surf. It’s a blank run, which is a real shame, but it happens sometimes – the forecasts can change, but right now, it’s not looking promising.

Stay patient, keep an eye on that wind shift, and maybe take the kite out instead.

Rusty.

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