Mavericks Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I’m looking straight at the forecast for Half Moon Bay. Let’s be real with you – we’ve got one spot, and one spot only on the table: Mavericks.

Now, I gotta be honest with you, looking at the next 16 days... it’s a tough watch for a paddle surfer. The pattern for the first week plus is a real grind. We’re talking day after day of poor surf conditions. From Wednesday the 22nd of July all the way through to the end of the month, the wind is a relentless cross-onshore from the Northwest, just chewing up the surface. The swell is hanging around in the 2ft to 3ft range from the SW, with a long period around 14 to 21 seconds, giving us a moderate wave energy, but it’s all for nothing with that chop. It’s just not worth paddling out.

There’s a little flicker on Wednesday the 29th of July in the morning. We see a 6ft NW swell come in with a short period of 8 seconds – that’s a lot of energy – but it’s classed as marginal because of the tide. Plus, the wind is onshore. That’s a big, messy, maybe-dry-rock kind of day. Not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for beginners.

After that, we slide back into a long stretch of the same old story: cross-onshore winds and small, weak swell. From Thursday the 30th through to Tuesday the 5th of August, the swell stays between 3ft and 5ft, mostly from the WNW, but the wind never cleans it up. The energy is moderate, but the quality is just poor. It’s a proper blank run.

The one standout? Honestly, the only day that might get your heart rate up is the morning of Wednesday the 29th of July. That 6ft NW swell is the biggest pulse we see, and it comes from a direction that’s good for the place (WNW). But the short period and the onshore wind means it’s going to be a chaotic, heaving wall of water. If you’re an expert with a death wish and a jet ski, maybe. For everyone else, it’s a pass. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing wild to report there.

Mavericks is a consistent spot, but it’s a reef that’s exposed and can get crowded sometimes. This forecast just isn’t delivering for paddle surfing. Honestly, with that strong wind and the short-period swell setup on the 29th, it looks more interesting for kite surfing than a traditional paddle session.

So, for the next 16 days, there’s no real green light. The whole run is a gap of poor conditions. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Rusty.

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