Moss Landing Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, Rusty here. Let's be honest about Moss Landing. This is a tough outlook to write. The forecast has a solid, consistent swell running for a lot of the period, but the wind is completely against us for the whole 16 days. It’s a constant light cross-onshore breeze, which is just enough to mess up the surface. You’ll be fighting a light chop all day, every day, and the wave comment across every single session is either "poor surf conditions" or "marginal surf forecast." The combined swell energy is moderate for the first week, with readings like 490, 506, and 514 (moderate wave energy) in the early days, but it’s never clean.

The water temperature is sitting around 59°F, which is about 0.5°F above normal for this time of year, so that’s average and fine.

For the first recommendation, Sunday morning the 2nd of August has a 6ft swell from the WNW with a period of 9 seconds, and the combined energy is 490 (moderate). That’s a decent size, but it’s blown out by the 6 mph cross-onshore wind. It’s a session that’s more frustrating than fun. The afternoon is the same story, but with a 10-second period and 506 (moderate) energy, still poor.

Monday the 3rd of August, swell drops slightly to 5ft, still a 10-second period, energy at 514 (moderate), but that same light cross-onshore wind is there. It’s a rinse and repeat situation.

Tuesday the 4th of August, the swell really backs off to 3ft, energy down to 238 (moderate), and the wind is still cross-onshore. The quality isn't there.

Then from Wednesday the 5th of August through to the 7th, the swell drops to a tiny 1ft to 2ft. The period jumps up to 13-14 seconds, which is a long-period groundswell, but it's so small and onshore that it’s flat. The energy readings are down to 110-135 (weak), confirming it’s not worth the paddle.

There’s a gap of almost two days of tiny, useless surf before Saturday the 8th of August brings a tiny 3ft, 8-second windswell with energy of just 82 (weak). Not worth getting wet.

The next window is Sunday the 9th of August. The swell jumps back up to 5ft, period 10 seconds, energy 510 (moderate) in the morning. The afternoon gets a bit bumpier with a 9 mph wind, so the morning is the marginally better option, but it’s still cross-onshore. The size is there, but the quality is not.

From Monday the 10th of August through to the 17th of August, the swell slowly fades from 5ft down to 2ft. The wind stays stubbornly light cross-onshore. The energy drops from 363 (moderate) down to 113 (weak) by the end. The long-period groundswell, with periods up to 16-17 seconds, will be breaking too straight for a beach break like Moss Landing, making it a messy, gutless wall to surf.

Honestly, this is a blank run. There are no standouts here. The setup is consistently poor for paddle surfing. If you have a kite, this constant, steady cross-onshore wind and moderate swell might actually be interesting for you. For a surfer, I’d look elsewhere. The forecast can change, but for now, it’s a write-off.

Rusty.

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