Moss Landing Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s take a good, hard look at what Moss Landing has got cooking for us over the next couple of weeks. Gotta be straight with you – it’s a long, dry spell of nothing special before we see a little flicker of life right at the end.

We are looking at a tough run from now. Starting Wednesday the 19th of August, it’s all small, weak, and cross-onshore. The waves are tiny, 1ft to 2ft from the WNW, and that wind just never lets up. It’s a light to gentle breeze, but it’s always coming across the swell, making for choppy, bumpy conditions. The combined energy is weak to moderate at best (132 to 262), and honestly, it’s just flat and frustrating. This stretch of poor surf looks set to hang around for days.

We go right through the weekend and into the following week with the same story. The swell stays below 2ft, the direction wobbles around from WNW to SW, but the wind stays stubbornly cross-on. By the 23rd of August, the period gets long – up to 19 seconds from the SW – but with barely 1ft of height, it’s just a long-period ripple. You’d be bobbing around for nothing. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing weird there, but it won’t matter because you won’t be surfing.

The middle of the second week, around the 26th and 27th of August, sees the swell bump up a touch to around 4ft to 4ft, but the period drops right off to a miserable 7 to 8 seconds. That’s just wind-chop with a bit of push. The combined energy climbs a bit (up to 341), but the quality is still poor. Still cross-onshore. Still not worth the paddle out.

Then we hit a big gap. From the 30th of August all the way through to the morning of the 2nd of September, it’s back to knee-high nothing. The 31st of August has energy down to 55 (weak) and 1.0ft waves. That’s lake conditions, not surf.

Finally, on the morning of Wednesday the 2nd of September, we get our one and only standout window. The swell jumps to 6ft from the WNW, with a period of 9 seconds. The wind finally swings offshore, going "on" from the west at 6 mph. That means clean faces. The combined energy hits 480 (moderate) – the highest we’ve seen all forecast. This is the best on offer by a country mile. It’s going to be a proper, rideable wave at Moss Landing. The only bummer? That afternoon the wind swings back cross-on and messes it up again. So you’ve got one morning session on the 2nd of September to get it.

The morning of the 3rd of September still looks clean with the offshore wind and 6ft swell, but the energy is already dropping a bit (563 combined energy). Still a good shot if you missed the 2nd.

So, to sum it up: you’re looking at a solid two-week stretch of basically no surf, then a single morning of decent, clean waves on the 2nd of September. That’s your window. Don’t sleep on it.

Rusty.

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