Lincoln City Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you about the Oregon coast around Lincoln City. The next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for the most part, so don't get your hopes up for a clean session.

Looking at the whole stretch, we're in for a long, tough run. There's almost nothing worth paddling out for. The water's running a crazy 3° colder than usual for this time of year, sitting around 53°F – that's a serious anomaly, so you'll want a thick wetsuit even if you do decide to brave it.

The pattern starts off weak and stays that way. For the first few days, from Tuesday the 18th right through to about Saturday the 22nd, it's all tiny, messy, onshore slop. Swells are mostly between 2ft and 5ft but from the SW or WNW, with the wind constantly coming from the NNW, making for chop. The wave energy is weak to moderate, hitting values like 356 and 656. Honestly, it's poor.

We get a bit of a reprieve on Thursday the 20th morning – the wind goes light and onshore from the WNW with a 5ft swell and a moderate energy of 656, but it's still only a "marginal" call. Nothing to get excited about.

Then from Sunday the 23rd into the start of September, it's just a depressing run of "poor surf conditions" day after day. The swell stays small, under 5ft, and the period is short and weak (mostly 6-8 seconds) with cross-shore or cross-onshore winds. The energy is moderate but it's all junk. For the week leading up to the 31st, you're looking at a long gap with nothing worth recommending.

The only flicker of hope comes way out on Monday the 31st of August and Tuesday the 1st of September. We get a bigger pulse of WNW swell. On Monday afternoon, the combined energy jumps to a strong 1282 with a 6ft swell and a period of 13 seconds – that's some proper groundswell. But the wind is a moderate cross-shore from the NNW, so it'll be a cross-chop. The rating is still just marginal. This swell is better suited for a point break or reef, not the exposed beach setup at Lincoln City. The long period will make it dumpy and harder to manage on the sandbars. For the beginner surfer, anything over 5ft is getting tricky, and the 6ft on the 31st afternoon is pushing it.

Overall, there are no standouts. The best of a bad bunch is probably the Thursday the 20th morning, but it's nothing to write home about. It looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing through most of this.

This is Rusty, signing off. Keep the board in the car and the wetsuit dry for a bit longer.

Read more