Pontal do Peba Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get straight into it. I’m not gonna sugar-coat this one – it’s been a tough stretch here at Pontal do Peba. Looking at the whole 16-day window, there’s no real stand-out, good quality surf to get excited about. The swell’s around, but it’s not doing us any favours with the winds.

We kick off on Thursday, 10th September and it’s pretty grim straight away. The swell is 5 ft from the ESE with a short, weak period of 7 seconds. The wind is a moderate cross-onshore breeze at 12 mph, making for choppy, poor conditions. The combined wave energy is moderate at 411, but it’s all messy. The water temp is pretty average for this time of year, nothing to write home about.

Moving through to the weekend and into the start of the following week, it’s more of the same. Friday, 11th and Saturday, 12th both have similar size swell, 5 ft to 5 ft, but those cross-onshore winds just won’t let up. The period is still short, 7 to 8 seconds, so the waves lack any real punch. On Saturday, combined energy jumps to 567, which is moderate to strong energy, but your typical wave won’t have much shape. This setup feels more like it’s for the kites than paddle surfing.

Sunday, 13th and Monday, 14th see the swell drop a touch to around 4 ft. The wind goes directly onshore for some of Monday, which at least takes the chop off the side, but it’s still onshore and lumpy. Not a day to get excited about. Energy is way down, to 197. The whole first week is a washout.

There’s a real gap here. From the start until the end of the first week, there’s nothing worth paddling out for. We get a run of poor surf quality day after day.

Towards the end of the second week, we see a bit of a spike on Friday, 18th September when the swell pushes back up to 6 ft, from the SE, but with a short 7-second period and direct onshore winds at 16 mph. That’s a big, messy, blown-out wall of water. Combined energy hits 424, but it’s just full-on and ugly. Only for the experts, if anyone, and still not good.

The last few days of the window, from 21st September onwards, the swell really backs off, dropping to just 3 ft. The periods start getting longer, 9 to 10 seconds, which would be nice, but the wind remains a problem – cross-shore and cross-onshore, with a fresh breeze up to 19 mph or more. The energy is down to weak, around 240.

Honestly, there aren't any good options here. The whole 16-day forecast is a write-off for decent, clean surf at Pontal do Peba. This place is fairly consistent, so it tends not to stay poor for this long, but this run is a real bummer. Forecasts can and do change, so keep an eye out, but for now, I’d save the wax.

Rusty.

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