Seignosse - Les Estagnots Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for the next couple of weeks.

First off, I gotta be straight with you: the next week and a half is pretty grim. The surf is small, the quality is poor, and the wind is often mucking things up. The water is sitting at 74°, which is a good 6° warmer than usual for this time of year – that’s a real anomaly, feels more like a bath than the Atlantic. It’s a slow start, so don’t be in a rush.

We’ve got a few little windows of hope, but they’re more about the conditions than the waves. The first real standout, and really the only one worth a proper mention, is Saturday morning, July 18th at Seignosse - Les Estagnots. The swell is only 4 ft from the WNW with a short period of 7 seconds, so it’s not a groundswell, but combined energy is a moderate 135. The real story here is the wind: it’s dead calm, glassy. That’s a major positive for an exposed beach break. It’ll be clean, but it’s strictly for experts as the consistency is there, but the quality is still just “surfable waves but very ordinary.” Crowds are likely here, so be ready for company.

The next morning, Sunday, July 19th, is also glassy, with a similar 3 ft swell from the WNW (7s, combined energy 103). Again, clean but ordinary. After that, the wind turns onshore again and the surf drops off into nothing.

Now, for the long-range look. The most promising swell of the whole period shows up on Friday, July 24th. A 7 ft WNW swell, with a period of 7 seconds, and a combined energy of 418 – that’s moderate to strong wave energy. But here’s the kicker: the wind is onshore from the west at 12 mph in the morning and 9 mph in the afternoon. For a beach break like Les Estagnots, that’s going to be a messy, blown-out mess. The setup looks far more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. It’s too big for beginners, and with the onshore wind, it’s only for the hardcore experts who don’t mind a battle.

The last glimmer is Saturday morning, July 25th. The swell drops back to 3 ft from the NW, still a short 10-second period, but the wind goes cross-offshore from the ENE at a light 3 mph. That’ll clean things up (combined energy 180). It’s a decent option after all that wind, but still very ordinary.

So, bottom line: the best on offer is the glassy, clean, but small surf on the morning of Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th. The bigger swell on the 24th is a write-off for paddle surfing. It’s a tough stretch, but it won’t stay poor forever.

Rusty.

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