Little Rincon Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s break down what’s happening at Little Rincon.

First off, the water is sitting at 70°F – that's a massive 6°F warmer than you’d normally get in August. The ocean has definitely got a fever.

I gotta be honest, this is a tough one to call. The next couple of weeks look pretty grim for any kind of quality surf. From Tuesday August 18th all the way through the end of the month, we’re stuck in a pattern of tiny waves and onshore winds.

On Tuesday 18th we've got a 0.5ft swell from the SSW, with a period of 16 seconds. Sounds nice and long, right? But that 10 km/h WSW wind is right onshore. The combined energy is a weak 179 – just confirming it’s flat and messy.

The same story carries on. Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th... day after day of 0.3ft to 0.6ft waves from the SSW, and the wind is either directly on it or cross-onshore. A few times, like the afternoon of Tuesday 25th, we see a 4ft swell from the west and the energy jumps to 230. But the period is a miserable 5 seconds – that’s just wind slop. With the 15 km/h onshore wind, it would be more interesting for kite surfing than trying to paddle out.

The best we get is towards the end of the window. From Sunday August 30th to Wednesday September 2nd, the wind turns to a lighter cross-onshore from the SW at 6 mph. The swells are still tiny – 1ft to 2ft – but some have a long period (15-17 seconds). On the 30th, the combined energy is a moderate 218, but that energy is on a knee-high wave. It’ll be a few clean-looking but unsurfable lines.

The problem is that this break likes a WNW swell, and we’re getting nothing but tiny SSW and SW pulses. There’s not one session in the whole 16 days that stands out. The scores are all zeros. It’s a blank few weeks. For a spot like this, it’s not that uncommon, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Fingers crossed the forecasts shift before then.

Rusty.

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