Poldhu Cove Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Howdy, Rusty here. Let’s be honest – Poldhu Cove is looking pretty flat and depressing for the next couple of weeks. It’s a spot that’s fairly open to a southwest swell and is alright for a beginner, but the surf just isn’t showing up. There’s a solid, quiet run of nearly twelve days with nothing worth writing home about, and only a couple of small windows that might get you wet.

Starting Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th, we’ve got waist-high waves at 1.0m to 1.1m out of the west, but the wind is howling at 15 to 25 miles per hour from the west-northwest, blowing cross-shore or cross-onshore, leaving a choppy, messy surface. The combined energy is only around 152 to 166 – that’s weak. Sunday the 16th drops off hard to tiny 0.5m, with energy down to 33 to 39. Monday and Tuesday are just as poor, with no push and bad wind. It’s a tough stretch.

Wednesday the 19th shows a little pulse: 1.1m of west swell with a 10-second period bumping the combined energy to 262 to 279. But the wind is still cross-onshore from the WNW at 12 to 15 miles per hour, so the surface is choppy. Not worth the paddle. Thursday the 20th gets up to 1.3m to 1.5m of west-northwest swell, hitting 377 energy, but a fresh cross-shore wind at 18 miles per hour makes it lumpy. This looks more like a kite-surfing day than a clean surf session.

Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd finally turn clean. The wind switches to cross-offshore from the north and north-northwest at 15 to 18 miles per hour, giving us smooth conditions with 1.0m to 1.4m waves, but the period is only 7 seconds, so the waves are weak and short. The combined energy is 156 to 221. Not a standout.

From Sunday the 23rd through Tuesday the 25th, it’s back to tiny, weak waves: 0.4m to 0.2m, energy in the teens and twenties. A total bust.

The real bright moment comes on Wednesday the 26th in the morning. Glassy calm seas – a light southeast breeze at just 3 miles per hour – with a 0.5m west swell and a 10-second period. The combined energy is only 81, so it’s small, but the surface is dead flat and perfect for a clean, easy session. Then again on Friday the 28th in the morning: glassy, 0.8m west swell with an 8-second period, the wind is dead calm from the southwest at 3 miles per hour, and the energy is 89. For this area, those two mornings are the only true standouts – clean, small, and easy.

Friday the 28th afternoon goes downhill fast with a 25 mile per hour strong breeze and rain, and Saturday the 29th stays rough.

The water temperature is about average for late August around here. Nothing strange.

Bottom line: the first 12 days are a long, flat slog, with a couple of cleaner but weak days around the 21st and 22nd. The only real champions are the glassy mornings of Wednesday the 26th and Friday the 28th. Watch those windows.

Rusty.

Read more