Manglecito Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at the 16-day window for Manglecito.

Well, I’ll be honest with you – it’s going to be a long, flat wait. There is absolutely nothing worth paddling out for during the first week and a half. The sets are basically non-existent for days on end. From Monday the 31st of August right through to the afternoon of Monday the 7th of September, we’ve got nothing but tiny dribbles or flat spells. A few windows show a tiny 0.3ft to 0.7ft of swell mostly out of the northwest, but the energy is weak as hell – we’re talking values from 1 all the way up to just 11 at best. The wind is a constant cross-off from the south or SSE at 9 mph, which would normally keep things clean, but there’s just nothing to ride.

Now, from Tuesday the 8th of September, we start to see a slow pulse building. Still, every single entry in the forecast says "poor surf conditions," so let’s not get too excited. The combined swell energy creeps up from 19 on Tuesday morning to a peak of 61 on the afternoon of Thursday the 10th of September. The swell heights finally reach 1ft out of the northwest with a period stretching to 13 seconds on that Thursday. The wind stays cross-off from the SSE at 9 mph – that’s clean, but the size is tiny, and the periods are long for such a little wave, meaning it’s going to be slow, fat, and mostly closey at a reef-and-point break like Manglecito. The best of a bad lot looks like the afternoon of Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th of September, with combined energy in the 50 to 61 range and some longer 12 to 13-second periods. But honestly, 1ft is ankle-snappingly small even for a longboard.

If you absolutely have to get wet, that Thursday the 10th of September afternoon at Manglecito holds the most potential. The swell will be from the northwest, and though it’s barely 1ft, a 13-second period means there is a tiny bit of hope for a waist-high set if the banks are kind. The water is a toasty 78°F – that’s over 7° warmer than normal for this time, which is very unusual. You won’t need a wetsuit, that’s for sure, but you will need a whole lot of patience.

Beyond that, it drops off again. The energy fades back to near zero by Sunday the 13th of September, and we finish the outlook on the 15th completely flat.

So, the stand-out window? It’s a slim one: Thursday the 10th of September afternoon through Friday the 11th of September. But don’t kid yourself – this is expert-level patience for a tiny, long-period groundswell on a reef-point setup. It’s more of a paddle and a tan than a surf. Keep an eye on the charts, because it’s been a dry run, and this area tends not to stay this quiet forever.

Rusty.

Read more