Playa Pantaleta Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – this 16-day window for Playa Pantaleta is a tough one. Right through until the end of the month, it’s a whole lot of nothing special. We’ve got a solid run of poor surf conditions with a constant cross-shore wind messing things up, and a low-energy chop that just won’t let up. There are no clean windows for the first week and a half, so don’t get your hopes up too early.

Starting from Wednesday the 19th of August through to the end of the month, the story is the same: small, weak swells coming from the NE and ENE with periods around 6 to 7 seconds, meaning short, weak waves. The combined swell energy stays mostly under 100, which is weak (48 on Wednesday morning, 89 in the afternoon), and only climbs into the low hundreds on a few days, like Friday the 21st hitting 185. The wind is cross-shore and often moderate, sometimes gusty, with plenty of risk of thunderstorms. The water temp is sitting at 80°F, which is about average for this time of year, so that’s not the issue.

The only faint glimmer of hope comes right at the tail end. On Monday the 31st of August, the morning session shows a clean wind state – light ESE at 3 mph, almost offshore, and the notes say “clean.” It’s still a small 3 ft swell from the NE with a short 6-second period, and combined energy at a weak 125, but for the first time the wind is not working against you. It’s surfable, just ordinary.

Tuesday the 1st of September brings a little more size – 4 ft to 4 ft from the ENE – but the wind turns cross again, so it’s back to poor conditions across the board.

The best of a bad bunch might be Wednesday the 2nd of September morning. That’s the biggest swell we see: 6 ft from the ENE, with a period of 7 seconds, and combined energy hitting 274 – moderate now, definitely some push there. But the wind is cross-shore at 9 mph, so it’ll be bumpy. For an intermediate surfer, it could be worth a look for the power alone, but don’t expect clean faces. The afternoon session on that same day drops to marginal.

After that, the first few days of September rinse and repeat: more ENE swell around 4 ft to 5 ft, same short periods, and cross-shore winds. Nothing to write home about.

Playa Pantaleta is a beach and reef setup that’s fairly consistent and exposed to NNE swells. It can handle a bit of size, and the optimum direction is NNE, but we’re getting swells from NE and ENE, which is a little off-angle. The bigger days around the 2nd and 3rd of September would be the pick for power, but the wind never gives us a clean session.

Summing it up: if you absolutely need to get wet, aim for the morning of Monday the 31st of August for the cleanest conditions, or Wednesday the 2nd of September morning for the most size. Otherwise, this run is a long, flat, choppy stretch. Keep an eye on the sky for those storms.

Rusty.

Read more