Los Cocos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, surfers. Rusty here, and I've been staring at the charts for our little corner of the coast. Let's be straight with you: the next couple of weeks are looking like a proper quiet spell. We've got Los Cocos as our only real option on the cards, and it's not going to be a classic.

Looking at the whole 16-day run, it's a grim picture. We're seeing swell direction mostly out of the East-North-East, with periods hanging around that short, weak 6 to 7 second mark. That's windswell, not groundswell – it won't have any punch, and it won't hold up well. The combined energy levels are mostly in the one to two hundreds, (164, 149, 170, etc.), which is moderate at best. Nothing is going to be big or powerful. The wind is a constant issue, too. It's a cross-shore breeze from the East for nearly every session, which is going to keep a chop on the surface. It won't be clean. You'll see a couple of late afternoons on Tuesday the 18th of August and Monday the 31st of August where the wind eases off a touch and shifts to a cross-off, giving us a clean window, but that's about it for highlights.

So, for the first week, the surf at Los Cocos (a beach/jetty setup) is just not happening. Monday the 17th of August through to Sunday the 23rd is a write-off. Tiny swell around 2 ft to 5 ft, poor conditions, cross-shore wind. Not worth paddling out for. The only slight glimmer is Tuesday afternoon the 18th, with 2 ft of 8-second Easterly swell, that cross-off wind making it clean. But it's small and weak (energy 77). A beginner could probably have a go, but you’ll be fighting the wind ripples.

Into the second week, and the picture doesn't really change. From Monday the 24th of August, it's more of the same: waves bouncing between 4 ft and 5 ft, still that short-period, cross-shore chop. There's a couple of days – Thursday the 27th of August and Sunday the 30th of August – where the swell height pushes to 5 ft, and the energy ticks up into the 200s (249 and 229), but the cross-shore wind and poor surf conditions are still there, making it marginal at best. That's a bigger, messier wave, likely blown out. On Thursday the 27th afternoon it's called marginal, but still not good.

The only proper standout, if you can call it that, is the early morning of Monday the 31st of August. The wind goes cross-off from the ESE at just 3 mph, with clean conditions on a 4 ft, 7-second swell from the ENE. It’s still short period, so the bank has to be right, but that offshore wind is everything. Energy is 163. It's your best chance for something ridable this whole fortnight. It's not going to be an epic day, but it'll be the least frustrating. Given the constant cross-shore and low quality, this setup might actually be more interesting for kite surfing than a paddle session for most of the period. The crowds at Los Cocos are listed as 'sometimes', so on that one cleaner morning you might find a few others with the same idea.

Long story short, get ready for a quiet patch. Don't expect much, and if you see that window on the 31st, go have a look but keep your expectations low.

Rusty.

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