Polzeath Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Well, to be honest, things are looking pretty grim here around Polzeath for a while. That forecast window is a long stretch of messy, onshore slop and barely a window of clean waves. The energy is just not there for us, with the combined swell energy stuck in those weak to moderate ranges – mostly below 1000 or scraping into the low 1000s only when the wind is howling and ruining it. You’ll see a lot of poor surf conditions on the cards, with the wind being the main culprit, blowing onshore or cross-onshore for days on end.

We start off on Thursday the 27th of August with next to nothing – a tiny 1 ft of swell from the west with a short 8-second period and a gentle cross-shore breeze that just chops it up. That’s not even worth a paddle. Friday the 28th brings a bit more size, around 6 ft, but it’s a short-period 6-second windswell from the WSW with a fresh cross-onshore wind, making it lumpy and poor. The energy number is 225 (moderate), but the quality is zero. Saturday the 29th sees a bump to 6 ft, still messy, and by the afternoon it’s a full-on 10 ft from the WSW with a near gale onshore wind – that’s big, ugly, and only for the hardcore if they’re even out there. The energy spikes to 1147, but it’s a washing machine.

Sunday the 30th stays in the 5 ft to 6 ft range with a moderate cross-shore or cross-onshore breeze, but the surf is still poor. Monday the 31st is similar, 6 ft waves but with onshore and cross-onshore winds, leaving the surface choppy and messy. The energy is up around 1014 on Monday morning, but again, the wind kills it. Tuesday the 1st of September and Wednesday the 2nd of September are a bit smaller, but Wednesday morning finally shows a glimmer – a glassy 3 ft from the WSW with a 5-second period – the combined energy is only 78 (weak), but it’s surfable, just very ordinary. That’s the only real bright spot in the first week, and it’s tiny.

Then we’re back into the wind-driven mess from Thursday the 3rd through to the second week. The swell stays moderate in size, often 5 ft to 8 ft, but the wind is almost always onshore or cross-onshore, from the SW, W, or WSW, with fresh to strong breezes. The energy numbers are moderate to strong – like 430, 1005, 655 – but the surf quality is rated poor, with the wind making it lumpy, choppy, and messy. There’s a brief moment on Monday the 7th of September where the wind is light, but it’s still cross-onshore and the swell is 8 ft from the WNW, a bit too big and middling period, so it’s only marginal.

The real standout doesn’t come until Friday the 11th of September. That morning, we’ve got a clean, 8 ft swell from the west with a 9-second period, and the wind is a light cross-offshore breeze from the NE. The combined energy is a solid 1113, and the conditions are expected to be very good. That’s the day to circle on the calendar – clean, solid waves, decent period, and the wind working with us. It’s a long way out, but it’s promising. Until then, it’s a lot of waiting and watching the onshore slop roll through.

Rusty.

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