Oceanside Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here with a look at what’s coming our way for Oceanside Pier.

Honestly, the next couple of weeks aren’t shaping up to be anything special. We’ve got a run of small, marginal surf with some tricky conditions. If you’re desperate for a paddle, Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th are your best early bets, but don't expect much. The real story is that the water is feeling way warmer than it should be for this time of year, at about 73°F with an anomaly of 5°F, which means it’s much warmer than normal.

We’ll kick things off on Saturday morning, July 25th, with some light SW wind and a clean 3ft swell out of the SSW. It’s weak energy (911), with a long 21-second period – that’s a groundswell, so it’ll have some push but the sets will be spread out. The break is exposed, so it’ll pick up that energy, but it’s pretty marginal overall. The afternoon cleans up with a 3ft SW swell, still light breeze.

Sunday the 26th is much the same story: morning brings a 4ft SW swell (966 energy) and handy WSW winds, so it should be clean. The period is still a solid 19 seconds. The afternoon stays clean with SW winds and the same 4ft.

Monday the 27th and Tuesday the 28th see a slight bump – a 4ft SSW swell with moderate energy (1146 and then 1018) and light onshore winds. The period is still good, dropping from 18 to 17 seconds. It’s okay for an intermediate, but nothing to write home about.

The highlight – if you can even call it that – looks like Friday, July 31st. We get the biggest swell of the period, with a 6ft S swell pushing through on Friday morning. That’s a decent amount of energy (1505) arriving with some clouds and a light WSW breeze, making for clean conditions. The period has dropped to 14 seconds, so it’s a bit more of a windswell, but it’ll be the most size we see. Friday afternoon gets a bit messy with a cross-onshore W wind, so get on it early if you’re keen. This size is okay for intermediates, but might be a bit much for true beginners.

After that, it’s a real fade out. Saturday, August 1st still has some 6ft leftovers, but it’s already on the decline. From Sunday, August 2nd all the way through to the end of the outlook on August 9th, we’re looking at tiny, poor surf. Swell drops below 3ft, the energy readings are all in the low hundreds (231 down to 102), and we get a lot of cross-onshore wind. It’s basically flat or gutless. There’s a gap of about 8 days with no real surf on offer after that Friday.

So, look: the only standout is Friday the 31st for a morning session. The rest is a whole lot of nothing. That’s the way it goes sometimes – forecasts can change, but as it stands right now, the boards are staying in the car for most of this run.

Rusty.

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