National Park Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here.

So we’ve got a look at the 16-day stretch ahead for National Park. This is a classic point break setup that likes an east-northeast swell, and the next two and a half weeks are a bit of a mixed bag – we'll see some clean windows but nothing that’s gonna have you calling in sick for a week. The building blocks are there with some longer period energy later on, but a lot of the time the swell size is small. The water temp is sitting at about 69°F, which is pretty much normal for this time of year, maybe a hair on the cool side of average for this area.

The first real standout is Monday, August 3rd. The morning is the pick. We get clean, waist-high waves at 3ft out of the southeast. The real magic is the 13-second period on that swell – that's proper groundswell energy, and the combined energy reading of 434 points to some decent push. The wind is light offshore out of the south-southeast, which will have those lines grooming up beautifully. That point is going to have some real shape to it. The afternoon fades a touch as the period drops, but it'll still be fun. Hats off to the Monday session.

For the rest of the first week and into the second, it’s small and ordinary. The swell stays below 3ft most days, with short periods around 6-8 seconds. You’ll get clean conditions on the 4th and 5th from the east, but the energy is weak, with combined energy values often down in the 100s. The wind is mostly offshore or cross-offshore, so it won’t be a complete mess, but the waves will be tiny. Thursday the 6th and Friday the 7th are small with a brief bump up in height, but honestly, the bigger onshore winds later in the day Friday will chop it up.

Then on Sunday, August 9th, we get what could be the best wave quality of the whole run. It’s a smaller morning with 3ft from the east, but listen to this – the wind is completely glassy, dead calm. The swell has a nice 9-second period and the combined energy jumps back to 204. It’s going be absolutely pristine, silky surfaces. If you own a longboard, this is your morning.

After that, we fall into a long trough of small, mostly weak surf from the 10th through the 14th. Morning offshore winds on the 11th and 12th will keep the surface clean, but the swell is ankle to knee-high at best, 2ft to 3ft. The period is 9 seconds which is okay, but the energy numbers are just too low. It’s a decent window for a beginner or someone with a foamie, but not what you’d call a proper session. The 14th turns ugly with strong cross-onshore winds from the north-northeast, so just skip that day.

Into the final weekend, the 16th and 17th of August, the swell direction shifts a bit more east but stays small at 2-3ft. The glassy Sunday afternoon on the 16th could be a nice little recovery session, but again, don't expect to be getting barreled.

To sum it up: Monday the 3rd has the most power from that 13-second interval, and Sunday the 9th offers the most perfect, glassy conditions on a longer period east swell. Everything else in between is mostly small and clean, but nothing that screams "go now." For a spot like National Park, which is fairly consistent, these blank spells are just the lull before the next proper swell. Forecasts can shift.

If you’re a beginner, be careful if anything gets over 5ft, but we don’t even get close to that. Also worth noting that long period groundswell like we see on the 3rd can sometimes straighten out the waves at a beach break, but on this point, it’ll wrap in beautifully.

Rusty.

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