Paignton Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you: the next 16 days are a real struggle for surf in this area. The good news is we’ve got a long window ahead, but the bad news is there’s almost nothing to get excited about for the first two weeks.

Right now, and all the way through to the morning of the 9th of September, it's a complete washout. There’s zero swell energy showing up—the combined energy is a big fat zero (0) for nearly two full weeks. That’s a painful gap, and it’s not just flat, the winds are mostly onshore or howling.

Even when we do get a puff of swell on the morning of the 9th, it’s a tiny 0.7 ft from the NNE with a period of only 3 seconds—basically a lake ripple. The energy reading is a pitiful 1. That’s not surf, that’s a wobble. It gets a little more interesting on the morning of the 10th of September when a 2 ft swell from the ENE rolls in with a 4-second period, giving a combined energy of 15. But that comes with a cross-shore wind and “poor surf conditions.” By the afternoon, the wind swings offshore but the swell drops even smaller.

The only real standout, if you can call it that, is still pretty grim. On the 5th of September, we get glassy conditions—a light NE wind going glass in the morning and a light SSW doing the same in the afternoon. But there’s no swell. Zero. The combined energy is still 0. It would be perfect if there were waves, but there aren't. For the whole forecast period, Paignton is just sitting there with nothing to offer.

The water temp is sitting at 67° which is 5° warmer than normal for this time of year—that’s notably warm, but it doesn’t help the flat spell.

Bottom line: there’s nothing worth paddling out for until at least the second week, and even then it's tiny and junky. Keep your gear waxed and wait for the charts to change. Often in spots like this, it won’t stay this poor for too long, but for now, it’s a big fat zero.

Rusty.

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