Ocean Beach Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto. Rusty here with a look at what's on the table for Ocean Beach Pier over the next couple of weeks. Gotta be straight with you – it's a bit of a slow grind for a while, so patience is the name of the game.

We kick off on Sunday the 30th of August with a bit of life in the water. The swell's showing 4 ft from the SW with a long 15 second period, giving it some proper push. The combined swell energy is sitting at 606 (moderate). The water's sitting at 75°, which is a good 7° warmer than normal for this time of year – that's seriously unusual, a real treat for a late August session. The downside? The wind's a cross-on SW breeze at 9 mph, so it's a bit choppy. The forecast is a bit wary of the tide, calling it marginal, but there's enough there for an intermediate surf.

Monday the 31st drops off to 3 ft from the S, and the quality fades. Tuesday through to Thursday morning of the 3rd of September is pretty slim pickings, with swell hovering around 2 ft to 3 ft and a persistent cross-on wind. It's not doing much. Then Thursday afternoon we see a spike in period – 3 ft SW swell with an 18 second period, energy jumps to 595 – but it's still cross-on and the conditions are written off as poor.

Friday the 4th of September offers a glimmer. The morning has a clean 4 ft SW swell with a 17 second period, wind is light and onshore from the W at 9 mph. The combined energy is 751 (moderate). The report still says marginal tide conditions, so it’s a gamble, but that's the best-looking window in the first week. Saturday the 5th is similar but with a lighter 6 mph W wind – a little cleaner, but still just a 3 ft SW groundswell.

Now, into the second week. Sunday the 6th of September sees the swell bump up to 5 ft-6 ft from the SSW with a 14 second period, and energy shoots up to over 1118 (moderate to strong). But the morning is wrecked by a strong 19 mph NNW cross-on wind – that's lumpy and messy, more for the kite crew than a paddle surfer. The afternoon cleans up a bit with a lighter WNW cross-on.

Monday the 7th of September is interesting: 6 ft SSW swell, period of 13 seconds, energy at 945. The wind is a cross-off from the S at 16 mph in the morning, which actually makes it clean. That's a standout session for the more experienced surfer – it's a proper winter-style pulse. The afternoon, though, has a 37 mph SSE wind – that's a near gale, so get out early or leave it.

Tuesday the 8th of September we see the largest swell of the outlook: 8 ft in the morning, jumping to 12 ft by the afternoon, both from the SW. The energy numbers are huge – 2128 and 3688 – that's very strong wave energy. This is for experts only. The period is a moderate 13-14 seconds, but the wind is a consistent cross-on from the NW, keeping it choppy and messy. Not a classic day, despite the size.

After that, it fades fast. From Wednesday the 9th of September onwards, it’s back to small, weak 2 ft to 3 ft swells with mostly cross-on or onshore winds, and the scores drop to zero. A long, quiet run to end the outlook.

The standout window is really Monday the 7th of September morning for the clean, solid 6 ft SSW swell. And keep an eye on Friday the 4th of September morning – if the tide plays ball, that 4 ft SW groundswell with light wind could be a sneaky good one. But overall, don't expect much for the next two weeks.

Rusty.

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