Oswald State Park/Short Sands Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you—this stretch of coast is looking pretty quiet for a while. We’ve got a run of small, junky, wind-affected surf that’s not going to get anyone too excited. The water’s sitting at 58°, which is about normal for this time of year, so no worries there.

The first week is a write-off, plain and simple. From Friday the 7th right through to the middle of the following week, we’re looking at small northwest windswell, mostly under 3ft, and the wind is just never your friend. It’s cross-shore or cross-on, choppy and lumpy, and the periods are short—around 6-7 seconds. That’s just mush. There’s a brief pulse of longer-period swell around the 11th and 12th, but it’s tiny, only 1ft, and the cross-shore breeze is going to chop it up anyway. Don’t bother paddling out for that.

The energy is weak throughout this whole stretch, with the combined swell energy only reaching triple digits in the 100s and 200s at best. It just doesn’t have any push behind it.

We finally see a real change of pace around Wednesday the 19th. A proper west swell fills in, with heights pushing 5ft. The combined energy jumps right up to 700 and then 810, which is a serious step up from what we’ve been seeing. The period is 12 seconds, so there’s some proper groundswell in there. The catch is the wind is still cross-shore and it’s going to be lumpy. This is a step in the right direction, but it’s not going to be a classic. It’s more for the guys who don’t mind a bit of a wrestle. The morning of Thursday the 20th still has some size at 5ft, with the energy at 584, and the wind is light, almost nothing. That looks like the best bet of the whole window, but even then it’s a marginal call.

Honestly, the pick of the fortnight is Oswald State Park/Short Sands on the morning of Thursday the 20th. It’s a 5ft west swell, and that light wind is going to be the closest thing to clean we’ve seen. It’s not huge, but it’ll have some push. The swell is from the west, which is just off the optimum, but it's the best we've got. The rest of that day and the following Friday just fade back into small, choppy junk.

So, there you have it. A long stretch of nothing, with one day that might just be worth a look. Keep your expectations low until then.

Rusty.

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