Laguna Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, grab a coffee, mate. Rusty here.

Look, I’ve had a proper look at the charts for Laguna Beach, and it’s a tough one. The next couple of weeks are looking pretty flat and average to be honest. The swell is tiny and the wind is mostly in the wrong direction. There's a real gap in the action here.

The first recommendation we get is for Laguna Beach itself, a reef break that's normally fairly consistent. But straight up, the water is sitting at 72° which is much warmer than usual for this time of year – a solid 5° above what we’d expect. That’s pretty wild.

But let's talk about the waves, or the lack of them. For Monday the 17th and Tuesday the 18th, it's all small stuff. We’re looking at a 3ft SSW swell on Monday morning but it’s got a poor surf call because of that 9 mph west wind blowing onshore. The wave energy is weak, sitting at only 293. It doesn’t get any better for the rest of that week. The swell drops to 2ft and even 1ft, and the wind stays cross-onshore from the SW or S. You’ll be lucky to catch anything with any shape. The combined energy stays in the low 100s and 200s, which tells you there’s nothing behind it.

This quiet pattern pretty much holds through the whole third week of August. We see a tiny bump on the 24th and 25th, with a 2ft SSW swell, but again the wind is messy and it's still rated as poor or marginal at best. The break itself is only producing what the charts call marginal surf or questionable tide conditions. You’d be wasting your time.

Now, around Saturday the 29th of August and into the start of September, things start to look slightly more interesting. The swell picks up to 3ft from the SSW with a period of 16 to 17 seconds. That’s a proper long-period groundswell, so there’s some push behind it. The combined energy jumps to 545 on the Saturday morning – that’s moderate wave energy. The wind on the Saturday morning is a cross-shore from the SSE at 9 mph, which is way better than the onshore rubbish we’ve had. It’s described as a gentle cross-shore with a slight cross-chop, but it’s still marginal surf. You might get a half-decent wave here, but it won’t be clean.

For the absolute best on offer, you’re looking at Saturday the 29th of August. That 3ft SSW groundswell with a 17-second period is the biggest and most consistent swell of the whole run. The cross-shore wind is a positive. This is a reef break too, so a long-period swell like this can actually wrap in nicely. But don’t get too excited – it’s still rated as marginal. The crowds can be an issue here often, so expect company if the waves are any good.

Nothing else in the 16-day window really stands out. The rest is just small, weak, and wind-affected. It’s a shame, really. The setup’s more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer for most of it.

Stay patient.

Rusty.

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