Playa do Carreiro Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Well, folks, it’s Rusty here. I’ve been staring at the charts for our stretch of coast, and I gotta be straight with you: it’s a pretty bleak picture for the next couple of weeks. We’re looking at a long stretch of poor to very ordinary conditions, with barely a wave worth getting wet for. There’s no real standout swell on the horizon, so we’re in for a waiting game.

Let’s break it down. The first few days are a write-off. Sunday the 2nd and Monday the 3rd are showing weak, short-period swell with cross-onshore winds, making for choppy and messy surf. The energy is low, with readings around 89 to 215, which tells you there’s just nothing behind these waves. You’d be fighting a losing battle.

We get a small glimmer on Wednesday the 5th. The wind swings around to a cross-offshore direction, cleaning things up, but the swell is still small – around 3ft from the NW. The period is a weak 9 seconds. It’s surfable, but only just, and the energy is moderate at best, like 185 to 216. Not worth getting excited about.

Thursday the 6th and Friday the 7th are more of the same: small, weak NW/NNW pulses with clean but cross-off winds. The waves are knee to waist-high at best. The energy drops off significantly, especially Friday afternoon when it falls back under 100. This is all just a tease, letting you know the ocean is still alive, but barely breathing.

Then we hit a proper flat spell from the 8th through to the 16th. The swell heights mostly hover in that 1ft to 3ft range. There are moments of glassy conditions, like on the morning of Tuesday the 11th and again on Thursday the 13th and Sunday the 16th. But with periods of 6 to 8 seconds and weak energy levels, often in the low double digits, it’s just not going to break properly. You’ll be sitting there bobbing around on a completely flat ocean.

There’s a slight bump on the 17th, with the swell picking up to around 3ft, but the wind is forecast to be cross-onshore again. It’s like the ocean is just taunting us.

So, here’s the reality check. There are no good surf options in this 16-day window. The consistent theme is a lack of energy and poor wind direction. It’s a flat spell, plain and simple. For this area, that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Forecasts can change though, so don’t throw your board in the attic just yet. But as it stands, you’re better off finding something else to do for a while.

Alright, that’s the long and short of it.

Rusty, out.

Read more