La Yerbabuena Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a good hard look at what’s on the table for La Yerbabuena over the next couple of weeks. I gotta be straight with you – it’s a bleak picture and I’m not going to sugarcoat it.

Right from the get-go, starting on Thursday the 20th of August, we’ve got a consistently poor run of surf. The swell is tiny, barely pushing 2 ft to 3 ft out of the SW and W, and the period is short and weak – mostly 4 to 8 seconds. The wave energy is feeble, reading between 29 and 72 (weak energy), so there’s just no grunt in the water. To make matters worse, the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, which is the kiss of death for clean lines. It’s messy, it’s small, and it’s not worth paddling out for. This grim stretch runs all the way through the end of August.

We hit a small bump in the energy on Monday the 24th of August afternoon, where the combined energy jumps to 201 (moderate), but the swell is only 4 ft from the W with a 9-second period. The wind is still onshore (WSW at 12 mph), so the quality is poor and choppy. That’s not the good news you’re hoping for.

Now, the first sign of something half-decent surfaces on Thursday the 27th of August morning. We get 3 ft of WNW swell, a 6-second period, and for the first time, we see some cross-offshore wind from the NW at 12 mph. The model calls it “clean”. The energy is still low at 64, and the swell is short period, so it’ll be a bit crumbly, but at least the wind won’t be ruining it. Friday the 28th of August morning looks similar – 3 ft, clean with NW cross-offshore at 12 mph. These mornings are your best bets in this whole 16-day window, but I’m not calling them standouts – they’re just the least bad options.

For the first week of September, it’s more of the same. A tiny bump on Thursday the 3rd of September morning sees 4 ft from the WNW, with a 7-second period and a bit more energy at 131 (moderate), but the wind is onshore. By Friday the 4th of September, we finally get a good wind direction – ESE at 19 mph, cross-offshore, and clean. The swell is a weak 3 ft with a 7-second period, but for this spot, that’s about as good as it’s going to get. Energy is moderate at 117 so there’s some push.

But let’s be real: there is no standout session here. Not one. The swell never gets above 4 ft, the period is mostly short, and the wind is rarely on your side. This is a long, flat, frustrating stretch. La Yerbabuena is an inconsistent point/river break that is “fairly exposed” and needs a proper SW swell to light up. What we’re getting is small, onshore-destroyed junk. For a place that usually picks up decent swell, this sure is a quiet spell. If you’re a kiter, the onshore wind and small waves might give you a session, but for us paddle surfers, it’s a write-off.

Keep the board in the bag and hope the forecasts change. This run looks stubborn.

Rusty.

Read more