Manasquan Inlet Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you—this is a tough stretch for Manasquan Inlet. Over the next 16 days, there’s no real standout session. The first surfable window doesn’t show up until Wednesday the 23rd, and even then it’s more about survival than glory. Before that, from now through Tuesday the 22nd, it’s pretty much dead or blown out with tiny, short-period mush.

The water is sitting at 73° right now, which is about 4° above the long-term average for this time of year. That’s much warmer than normal, so the first paddle of the trip won’t have that autumn chill, at least.

Alright, let’s step through it. Starting Tuesday the 15th, we’ve got barely 2 ft of weak, 5-second windswell, but a 9 mph onshore breeze from the ENE just trashes it. Energy is feeble at 46, and it’s poor. That carries through the rest of the week—tiny 0.7 ft to 2 ft junk with onshore or cross-shore winds. Clean pockets on Wednesday morning (16th) and Thursday morning (17th) with light offshore flow, but the swell is just too small to ride. Not worth paddling out.

By Sunday the 20th, we see a slight bump: 3 ft from the ESE, period still short at 6 seconds, but winds turn light offshore from the WSW and WNW. It’s clean but small and weak (energy 72 and 67). Surfable for a longboard if you’re desperate, but it’s nothing to get excited about.

Monday the 21st brings a bit more size—4 ft to 4 ft—but it’s all short-period windswell (5–6 seconds) with onshore winds from the E and ESE hitting 16 mph. Choppy, messy, poor. Energy climbs to 123 by the afternoon, but the quality is gone.

Tuesday the 22nd gets even bigger: 5 ft to 5 ft from the east, but onshore winds at 19 mph in the morning and 16 mph cross-onshore in the afternoon. The energy hits 199, but this is a real battle zone—choppy, lumpy, no shape. With those winds and the beach/jetty setup, this might actually interest the kite crew more than us paddle surfers.

The best of the lot arrives Wednesday the 23rd. That’s our one bright spot. Morning sees 6 ft from the ESE at 7 seconds, clean with a light cross-offshore wind from the SW. Energy is a solid 279—moderate wave energy. The afternoon gets a little smaller at 5 ft, but still clean and cross-offshore from the SW. This is the only day that ticks enough boxes to get in the water. It’s still short-period groundswell, so it’ll be a bit fat and dumpy at the beach, but it’s the best we’ve got. For intermediates and above, you could score some fun ones if you pick your peak.

After that, it fades fast. Thursday the 24th drops to 3 ft with onshore flow, Friday the 25th has a clean 3 ft from the east but with gusty 19 mph offshore winds that will hold the waves up but make paddling tough. The energy spikes to 188, but the swell is still short-period windswell. Then it’s back to tiny, weak junk through the end of the month.

So, if you’ve got one day to go, pencil in Wednesday the 23rd. It’s not a classic—but it’s the only chance at a session that won’t have you shaking your head on the beach. Everything else is a miss. Keep an eye on the forecasts, though—it tends not to stay this quiet forever.

Rusty.

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