Little Rincon Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, it’s Rusty here. Let me level with you straight up: the next sixteen days are gonna be a tough watch for anyone trying to get a wave in. We’ve got a real dry spell on our hands.

Honestly, looking at the whole run, there isn’t a single standout session. The entire forecast window is filled with “poor surf conditions” and scores that tell the same story. We're looking at a long stretch of practically nothing.

It kicks off on Wednesday the 2nd of September with tiny 1ft swell from the SSW, but the wind is onshore from the SW at 6 mph, so forget about it. That dirty wind just messes everything up. The wave energy is weak, only 121 (moderate), which doesn’t save the day.

Thursday the 3rd brings the same story: 1ft SSW swell with a sketchy cross-onshore wind. Light winds, but the direction is all wrong. The energy is still weak and the surf is poor.

Friday the 4th shows a slight bump up to approximately 2ft from the SSW, with a nice long 17-second period. But that’s where the good news ends. The wind is cross-onshore again from the SSW at 6 mph. This is a classic tease—a long period groundswell that would normally wrap around a point reef like Little Rincon, but with the wind blowing across it, it’s just messy. The combined energy climbs to 225 (moderate), but it doesn’t materialise into a wave you’d paddle for.

This grim pattern holds all the way through. Saturday and Sunday are more of the same: tiny swell, poor wind, no quality. By the second week, from Monday the 7th onwards, the swell flatlines completely—dropping to a third of a foot and 0.7ft for days. The wave energy dives into single digits and low double digits (like 14 and 33), telling you there’s just nothing in the water.

We get a tiny pulse mid-week on the 9th, hitting approximately 3ft from the SSW, but again the period drops to 10 seconds and the wind swings onshore from the WSW. The energy hits 279 (moderate) but it’s a waste with the conditions.

The real kicker is towards the end on Thursday the 17th of September. We see a 0.7ft swell but with a very long 23-second period. Slow, drawn-out groundswell. But combined with cross-onshore winds and a tiny wave height, it’s not surfable.

So, the whole outlook is essentially one long gap with no recommendations. For a reef like Little Rincon (Cali), that’s a bummer, but it happens. The water temp anomaly is average for this time of year, so at least the water is not weirdly cold while you’re sitting there watching flatness. Don’t bother waxing up your board just yet. Forecasts can change, but as it stands, this is a total write-off.

Rusty.

Read more