La Santa - El Quemao Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I’ve got a look at what’s coming down the line for us. We’re pinning all our hopes on one spot for the next couple of weeks: La Santa - El Quemao. It’s an expert-only reef break, and it’s consistent, so it’s always trying to give us something, even if the conditions don’t always play ball.

The start of this run is pretty grim. Friday the 11th through Sunday the 13th of September morning is all fresh cross-onshore winds and lumpy, choppy water. There’s some size in the water, around 5 ft to 6 ft from the NNE and N, but with that wind, it’s just a washing machine. The wave energy is moderate (396 to 529), but completely wasted.

Finally, we get a window. Sunday the 13th afternoon the wind drops to glassy conditions out of the NW, and the swell settles to a cleaner 4 ft from the north, with a moderate period of 8 seconds. The energy drops to 222, but it’s glassy. That is clean. Monday the 14th morning looks just as good, with glassy conditions again, a smaller 2 ft swell but with a lovely long period of 13 seconds (groundswell). That long period is going to make it bend nicely around the reef, but at that size, it’s small for the experts. It’s a choice session for a longboard or a fish.

Things get messy again from Monday afternoon through the next few days. Wind picks up, swell gets short-period and lumpy, and we get a run of poor surf conditions right through to the 21st of September. That’s over a week of chop.

Now, here’s the standout that’s got my attention, but it’s a long way off and “promising but less certain.” On Tuesday the 22nd of September morning, we’ve got a 5 ft swell from the north, with a very long 13-second period, and a light cross-onshore breeze. The combined energy jumps to a solid 878 (moderate to strong), and it’s only rated as marginal, likely due to tide or the wind state being a bit light. That’s the best window in the whole outlook. That long-period groundswell on a reef like Quemao usually means power and shape.

The rest of the month through the 26th is clouded by onshore or cross-onshore winds, so it’ll stay choppy and blown out. The energy drops back to the 200-700 range, but it just won’t be clean.

So, the honest truth? The one true standout is that Tuesday the 22nd morning. If you can wait, that’s your best bet for some proper, powerful reef waves, albeit with a light bump. Everything else before it is a short window of glassy small waves, or a long stretch of onshore junk.

Rusty.

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