Pontal (Baia Formosa) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you. Looking at the charts for Pontal (Baia Formosa), this is a tough stretch. There's a whole lot of nothing on the menu for the next two weeks and a bit. The surf gods are taking a holiday, and we're left with flat, lumpy, and choppy conditions.

The first few days, from Thursday the 6th through the weekend, are a total write-off. We're looking at tiny, short-period windswell mixing with a cross-shore breeze that's just chopping everything up. The energy is weak, with values mostly in the double digits (like 87 and 73), and the water is just messy. There's no push, no shape, just a frustrating bump on the sandbar. It’s not even worth paddling out for a grovel board.

The start of the next week, from Monday the 10th through Thursday the 13th, sees a little more swell energy, but the wind stays stubbornly cross-shore. The swell direction is from the east, which is all wrong for this spot. The wave comment is "poor surf conditions" across the board, and the energy, while picking up to triple digits (169, 167), is just not translating into anything ridable. The period is short, around 7 seconds, so it's weak and crumbly.

Then we hit a proper flat spell. From around the 12th to the 14th, the swell drops right off. We're talking 0.7ft of slop with a long 10-second period from the north-northeast, which is completely shadowed. The energy numbers plummet to single digits (13, 11, 9). This is a dead ocean. You’d have a better chance of finding a wave in a swimming pool.

The swell tries to pick back up from the 15th onward, but it's still small and weak. We see a bit of a pulse around the 20th and 21st, with the energy climbing into the 200s and even hitting 448 on the Friday morning. The swell height is getting up to 5ft, but the period is still a marginal 7 seconds, and the wind is coming from the east, which is cross-onshore. This is going to be a lumpy, messy, and sectiony mess. The wave comment stays "poor surf conditions" the whole time. With that onshore wind and a beach setup, this looks a lot more interesting for the kite surfers than us paddle surfers.

Honestly, there isn't a single standout day in this entire 16-day window. The best you could hope for is a few cleanish, grovelly waves on the morning of Tuesday the 11th, when the wind briefly goes cross-offshore, but the swell is just too small and weak to do anything with.

So, my advice is to get the board waxed for something else. This is a rare, blank run for the area. It won't last forever, and the forecasts can change, but as it stands, there is no good surf to be had. I'm calling it a flat spell and moving on.

Rusty, out.

Read more