Oceanside Harbor Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for Oceanside Harbor.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a short window of solid, clean surf, but it’s not for everyone. Sunday morning the 6th is the pick of the early run. The water is sitting at a balmy 73°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year—a solid 5° above average. The swell is a clean 6ft from the S, with a long period of 14 seconds. That’s proper groundswell, and with a moderate wave energy of (1330), there’s plenty of punch. The wind is N at 9 mph, blowing cross-offshore, and conditions are clean. The only bummer is this is an exposed beach/jetty setup, and long-period S swells can sometimes make a beach break a bit straight and walled up. It’s also a spot that often sees crowds, so expect company. This is definitely for advanced surfers only.

Sunday afternoon holds up nicely too. We see light rain moving in with the wind swinging NNE at 12 mph, blowing offshore. The swell drops a touch to 5ft, still from the S at 13 seconds, with strong energy (1310). Conditions remain moderate offshore and clean, but again, it’s still a spot for the experienced crew.

Now, here’s where it gets tough. From Monday the 7th onward, things really start to fall apart. Monday morning is a cross-on mess with 6ft from the SSW, but the wind is WNW at 9 mph, and it’s already looking fairly choppy. By the afternoon, the wind picks up to 16 mph with a cross-shore chop—nasty. The energy is dropping (1099 and 959) and the quality is gone. The rest of the week into the second week is a long, drawn-out stretch of poor to marginal conditions. There are big gaps of several days with nothing worth paddling out for. The swell stays small, often under 3ft, and the winds are almost always cross-onshore or onshore. Tuesday the 8th, Wednesday the 9th, Thursday the 10th, Friday the 11th, Saturday the 12th—it’s all small, choppy, or both. There is a long-period SW groundswell coming through Wednesday morning the 9th with a 16-second period, but it’s only 2ft to 2ft, and the wind is cross-on, so it’s basically a non-event.

Even into the second week, from the 13th to the 21st of September, we see a few little pulses of energy, but nothing that comes together with clean wind. There are some long-period SW and SSW swells in there—18 seconds, 19 seconds, even 20 seconds on the 15th—but the height is tiny, mostly 1ft to 3ft. The combined energy does climb back up a bit (581 on the 21st morning), but with light cross-on breezes, it’s still just a marginal look at best. The afternoon of the 21st shows 3ft from the SW at 17 seconds with an onshore wind, but the wind state is unknown. It’s hard to get excited about that.

Honestly, the standout is Sunday the 6th. That morning session is your best bet by a long shot. After that, the forecast is a real letdown for Oceanside Harbor. The pattern looks pretty flat and messy for a long stretch. If you’re not an advanced surfer, this whole run is a write-off.

Rusty.

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