Lajinha Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a good look at what we’ve got for Lajinha over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be straight with you: it’s a challenging outlook.

To put it simply, the entire 16-day window is a write-off for proper surfing. There’s just no clean, rideable surf on offer. Right from Friday the 7th of August right through to Saturday the 22nd of August, every single session is marked as poor surf conditions. That’s a full two-week gap with nothing worth paddling out for.

The water temp at the start of the period is sitting at 80°, which is about average for this time of year, nothing unusual there.

Lajinha is a consistent reef break, works best with an easterly swell, and the swell direction through the whole window is mostly E to ESE, which is in the right ballpark. The problem is the wind is relentless. It’s cross-on or cross-shore from the ESE, SSE, or SE, blowing at 12 to 18 mph through the first week. That’s going to put a nasty chop on anything that rolls through. On a few days, like around the 10th and 11th, we see moderate cross-shore winds with a cross-chop, which is not what you want for a clean face.

Swell heights hover between 2 ft and 5 ft, and periods are short, mostly 5 to 7 seconds. That’s weak, wind-affected junk. The combined wave energy does get up to moderate levels at times – we see a reading of 306 on Monday the 10th morning, and a few others over 200, but the poor wind state just kills any quality. You can have energy in the water, but if it’s blown out, it’s useless.

Later in the second week, we get a shift. Around the 15th and 16th of August, the swell period actually jumps up to 10, 12, even 13 seconds, which is proper groundswell. We see a clean 1 ft to 2 ft SSE/ESE swell, and the wind turns offshore from the ENE on the 16th. Sounds promising, but the swell is tiny – barely a ripple – and even with that longer period, it’s not enough to wrap in properly at Lajinha. The wave comment still reads “poor surf conditions.” Even with an offshore wind, there’s just no wave to work with.

Given the constant onshore and cross-shore winds on a consistent reef, and the poor quality across the board, this setup looks way more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. There is not a single standout day in the whole forecast.

Keep an eye on the forecasts, but for now, leave the board at home. The waves aren’t coming together here.

Rusty.

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