Otter Rock Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, taking a look at the local stretch for the next 16 days. Honestly, it’s a bit of a rough patch. We’ve got a lot of poor surf conditions and a persistent cross-onshore wind that’s keeping things choppy and messy. The water is running much colder than normal for this time of year, which is a bit of a shock to the system.

Let’s start with Otter Rock. This is a point break that’s exposed to the swell, but for the first week, the wind is a real killer. From Monday the 6th right through the following weekend, it’s a steady NNW wind blowing cross-onshore, keeping the surface ugly. The combined swell energy is mostly moderate, with values like 497 and 932 (moderate wave energy), but the quality is just poor. The swell direction is often NW or SW, but the period is all over the place – short and choppy at 7 seconds, or long and weak at 20 seconds. The best you’ll see is a 4ft WNW swell on Saturday the 11th afternoon, but it’s still only a marginal call with that cross-onshore breeze. Tuesday the 21st morning finally shows a light onshore wind from the WSW with a 5ft NW swell, which is a slight improvement, but the surf is still only marginal. The afternoon of the 21st has a 2ft SW groundswell (16 seconds) with light onshore wind, but it's tiny.

There are no standout days in this entire 16-day window. The wind is never truly offshore, just a constant cross or cross-onshore flow. The few days with a bit more size, like the 6ft to 7ft swells on the 18th and 19th of July, are completely blown out by strong cross-shore winds (18-22 mph), making it lumpy and only good for a kite surfer, not a paddle surfer. A couple of early mornings on the 15th and 16th of July have light cross-onshore winds and a bit of period, but the swell is too small to get excited about. The only real highlight is that the point can handle a long period swell, which we get a few times, but with the poor wind, it’s just not worth the paddle.

Rusty out.

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