Number Fours Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, looking at the charts for our spot. Let’s get into it.

Straight up, Number Fours is our only game in town according to what I’m seeing, but it’s no kind of party for the first week or so. The early days are a write-off. Sunday the 16th is just nasty – 22 mph cross-onshore winds and a lumpy 10 ft of messy ENE windswell. Do not even bother paddling out. That energy reading of 1910 tells you there’s power, but it’s all wrong. The rest of that week is all about periods of clean water but tiny surf – we’re talking 2 ft to 3 ft of weak, long-period swell. That 14 to 18-second groundswell looks pretty on paper, but it’s just not wrapping in with any size. You’d be bobbing around on a paddleboard more than catching a wave. Clean conditions though, with light breezes on the 20th, but it’s just not enough.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. We’ve got a dry spell, then things start to build from the 25th of August. The end of the month is where the focus is. From the 25th morning, the swell starts picking up – 6 ft of clean, cross-off ENE swell, and that energy jumps to 725. It stays in that 5 ft to 8 ft range right through to the 28th. The standout? I’m looking at Friday the 28th. The swell holds at 8 ft from the ENE, with a period bumping to 8 seconds, and the energy hits 1111 – that’s a solid pulse. And we’ve got cross-off winds keeping it clean. That’s the one moment in this whole run where it all comes together alright. But it’s pushing into that expert territory. Over 8 ft is no joke, especially at a reef break. The direction is ENE, and Number Fours likes it from the SSE for optimum. So it’s not the perfect direction, but 8 ft with clean cross-off winds is gonna produce some thick, barreling walls for the crew who can handle it.

The very end of the month, the 30th, sees another spike – 10 ft from the E with energy at 2348. That’s a strong signal from the ocean. But again, it’s a big, powerful swell with cross-off winds. It’ll be a heavy, full-on day for experts only, and the crowd factor here is “sometimes,” so you might have the place to yourself if you’re keen and skilled. Let’s be real though, that longer period swell (9 seconds is not that long for a groundswell) and the direction not being perfect means it won’t be a classic Number Fours day.

Overall, the next couple of weeks are a slow burn. You’re waiting until the last week of August for anything with real push. The real standout is that Friday the 28th. The other late-month pulses on the 29th and 30th are big but bordering on too wild for most.

The water temp anomaly isn’t flagged as extreme, so call it average for the time of year at Number Fours.

Stay patient. The surf will come.

Rusty.

Read more