Guethary - Les Alcyons/Avalanche Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s look at what’s on the menu for our local stretch. I’ve got to be straight with you – the outlook for Guethary - Les Alcyons/Avalanche is a lean one over the next 16 days. This is a real expert reef setup, and it’s consistent, but the conditions are just not lining up for us.

The water is sitting at a very unusual 78°F – that’s 8°F warmer than normal for this time of year, so you’ll be surfing in a bath.

We start off with a bit of a dud. For Tuesday the 21st and Wednesday the 22nd, the swell is tiny – around 2ft to 3ft – with poor short-period windswell from the NNW. The winds are onshore, so it’s messy and not worth the paddle out. The combined energy is weak, sitting at just 105 on Tuesday morning, dropping to 34 by Wednesday afternoon.

We get a couple of glassy mornings on Thursday the 23rd and Friday the 24th, with the wind going dead calm. The swell is still very small, just 2ft to 3ft, and the period is a weak 6 seconds, so the energy is minimal (32 to 47). It’s pretty, but there’s hardly any push.

Then things get a bit bigger. Saturday the 25th sees a jump in the swell, with a W-WNW windswell building to 6ft in the morning and 8ft in the afternoon. The period is still short (7 seconds), but the energy ramps up significantly, hitting 278 in the morning and a hefty 687 in the afternoon. The problem is the wind is cranking from the W at 18-22 mph, making it a lumpy, cross-onshore mess. The quality is poor, and with that size and those conditions, this is more of a kite-surfing day than a paddle-surfing one. It’s also big enough to be expert-only at 8ft.

The next few days, from Sunday the 26th through to Tuesday the 5th of August, are a real mixed bag of poor surf. The swell drops and rises again, but it’s almost always accompanied by onshore or cross-onshore winds. The energy levels are moderate at best, with a few readings over 200, but the wave comment is consistently “poor.” There’s a brief moment on Monday the 27th where the swell gets a bit of length, hitting a 10-second period from the NW, but the wind is onshore, and the energy is still not translating into quality.

The best of a bad bunch looks like Wednesday the 29th. The morning is glassy with light winds from the N, and the swell is 3ft from the NW at a 9-second period. The energy is a modest 123, and the description says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions." It’s not a standout, but it’s the only window where the wind is totally clean and there’s a little bit of shape. It’s a small-wave longboarder’s special.

From Thursday the 30th onward, it’s back to poor, small, onshore slop. The energy drops off to weak levels, and the wind never really cooperates.

So, to be honest, there’s no true standout in this window. The best bet is to wait for the glassy morning on the 29th for a tiny, clean session. Otherwise, the picks are thin. The setup might look more interesting for kite surfing on the 25th if you’ve got a big kite.

Rusty out.

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