Matosinhos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty here. We’ve got a pretty patchy 16-day window ahead for the Matosinhos area. There’s no real surf to speak of for the first few days, but a few windows of decent, clean conditions do show up later. The first surf that’s worth paddling out for doesn’t arrive until Saturday morning, the 12th of September.

The water temp at Matosinhos is sitting at 67° right now, which is about average for this time of year, so no wetsuit drama there.

Right, let’s get into it. The first highlight comes early on Saturday morning, 12th September. It’s going to be dead glassy with the wind swinging ESE at 0 mph. The swell is small at 3 ft from the WNW with a period of 10 seconds – that’s a decent, workable groundswell pulse. The combined energy is moderate (113). It won’t be pumping, but it’ll be clean and user-friendly. This morning window is the standout for the first week because the conditions are pristine. Expect it to be relatively quiet, but Matosinhos can get a few out often enough.

The next real standout comes on Sunday morning, 13th September. This is the pick of the whole forecast. The swell bumps up a touch to 3 ft from the WNW with a juicy 12-second period (combined energy: 273, moderate). The wind is a light E at 3 mph, giving us glassy conditions again. This is proper groundswell, with longer lulls between sets but a lot more shape and push. For a beach-and-reef setup like Matosinhos, that longer period will line up nicely and produce clean, peeling waves. This is the morning to lock in.

After that, the mornings on Monday the 14th (3 ft, WNW, glassy), Friday the 18th (3 ft, NW, glassy), Saturday the 19th (3 ft, WNW, glassy), and Tuesday the 22nd (3 ft, WNW, glassy) all offer surfable but very ordinary conditions. The combined energy on those days stays in the low-to-moderate range (130-190). They’re fine for a paddle but nothing to write home about.

The next major shout is a solid pulse arriving on Monday morning, 21st September. The swell jumps to 5 ft from the NW with a 10-second period, and the combined energy is strong at 417. The wind will be dead calm, SSE at 0 mph – glassy as glass. This is a moderate-sized, powerful swell, and with clean conditions, it’ll be the best session of the second week. Just be aware that at 5 ft, it’s pushing into the more challenging end for beginners.

The morning of Tuesday, 22nd September also has good conditions (3 ft, WNW, glassy) with a combined energy of 384 – nicely moderate – but that Monday morning is the bigger, better set.

A couple of mornings later – Thursday the 24th – another glassy morning with 3 ft from the WNW, period 11 seconds, and combined energy of 226. It’s a solid, clean, ordinary option.

Unfortunately, the afternoons are a write-off for the entire period. The wind cranks NNW or NW almost every afternoon, creating lumpy, cross-onshore chop. The standout morning windows on the 12th, 13th, and 21st are the ones to aim for. For the rest, you’re gambling on small, clean slop or morning glass-offs that fade.

Given the inconsistency and the number of poor afternoons, this isn’t a classic run for Matosinhos. But when it’s clean and the groundswell rolls in, it’s worth the wait.

Rusty

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