Margate Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for the Margate Pier area over the next couple of weeks.

Straight up, this is a tough stretch. We’re looking at a long dry spell of tiny, weak waves for the first week and a half. The swell energy is just not there, with most days reading a combined energy of under 100, which is basically flat. The water temp is about 77°, which feels a touch warmer than normal for the time of year, so at least a dip won’t be a shock to the system.

We start with Saturday the 8th through to the middle of the month. The swell is knee-high at best, around 1ft to 3ft, with short periods of 5 to 6 seconds. Winds are mostly cross or cross-off, but there’s just no push. There’s a brief moment on Wednesday the 12th afternoon where the combined energy bumps to 68 and the conditions clean up, giving us “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions” – but that’s about all you can say for it. The glassy morning on Thursday the 13th and Saturday the 15th might be tempting, but with swell at 1.0ft to 1ft, you’re basically floating.

Then we hit a real gap. From the 16th to the 18th, it’s tiny and onshore, with energy dropping to single digits. Not worth paddling out.

Things finally get a bit of a pulse around Wednesday the 19th. The swell jumps to 6ft on the morning, but it’s a messy 5-second wind chop from the SE with a cross wind, so the quality is poor. The afternoon is the real standout of the entire outlook: the swell builds to 8ft from the SE, with a combined energy of 893 – that’s moderate to strong energy. The period is still short at 8 seconds, so it’s a wind swell, not a groundswell. The wind is cross from the SSW. This is not for beginners at 8ft, this is expert territory. It’s the only day with real size, but the conditions are marginal.

Thursday the 20th keeps the size around 6ft to 7ft from the east, but with onshore wind and a risk of storms, it’s messy. The energy is still strong (625 and 568), but it’s not clean.

After that, the swell fades into the following weekend, with small waves and cleaner winds on Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd, but nothing to write home about.

So, the one true standout is Wednesday afternoon the 19th of August. If you’re an experienced surfer hungry for some real power, that’s your window. It’s the only time the energy really hums, but it’s a short-period wind swell, so don’t expect perfection. The rest of the fortnight is a long, flat wait.

Rusty.

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