Oceanside Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s coming up for Oceanside Pier.

Honestly, it’s a pretty bleak stretch ahead. We’ve got a long run of days with nothing really worth paddling out for. The first sign of anything even close to ridable doesn’t show up until Friday the 14th of August, and even then it’s only marginal.

The whole first week is a write-off. From Friday the 7th through to Thursday the 13th, it’s just poor surf conditions day after day. The swell is tiny, mostly around 2ft to 3ft from the SSW, with a short period around 13-14 seconds, and the wind is a gentle cross-onshore breeze at 9 mph, keeping everything choppy and messy. The combined wave energy is weak to moderate, hitting a high of 432 (moderate) on the 8th but still not enough to break clean. Don’t even bother.

Things start to look a little less hopeless on Friday the 14th. Still small, with swell around 2ft to 3ft from the SSW, but the period stretches out to 18 seconds, which is a nice long groundswell. The energy bumps up to 571 (moderate) by the morning and 647 (moderate) in the afternoon. But the wind is still cross-onshore at 9 mph, so it’s gonna be bumpy. The forecaster calls it “marginal” – that’s being polite. This is the best of a bad bunch, but it’s not a standout.

Saturday the 15th of August also gets a “marginal” tag. The swell picks up a touch to 3ft in the morning and 4ft in the afternoon, still from the SSW. The period drops to 16 seconds, but the energy is the highest we’ll see all forecast, hitting 722 (moderate) in the afternoon. Again, the cross-onshore wind at 9 mph kills it. If you’re desperate, you could get some lumpy, weak waves, but don’t expect anything special.

The rest of the run from Sunday the 16th through to Saturday the 22nd is back to “poor surf conditions” with just a couple of “marginal” calls on the 17th. Swell stays tiny, under 3ft, and the wind never cleans up. The water temperature is a very unusual 75°F, which is 8°F warmer than normal for this time of year, so at least you won’t be cold while you’re sitting there waiting for a wave that never comes.

There’s no true standout here. The best option, if you can call it that, is the Saturday the 15th of August afternoon for the biggest swell of the run, but it’s still not good. The break is very consistent, so it’s not that it never breaks – it’s just that the conditions are flat-out poor. Crowds are sometimes a factor here, so on a “marginal” day you might have it to yourself, which is about the only positive.

Stay patient, folks. It’ll turn around.

Rusty.

Read more