Port Orford Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what Port Orford has in store for us over the next couple of weeks. Straight up, it’s a pretty patchy run with no real standout days. The water is sitting at a very unusual 52°, which is a whopping 6° colder than normal for this time of year – that's a serious bite, so you’ll be wanting the thickest wetsuit you’ve got and maybe some booties.

The first bit of swell to talk about shows up on Friday afternoon, 14 August. It’s a small 4ft from the NW with a short 7-second period and weak energy (109). The wind is offshore, but with only a 1/5 rating and the description calling it “very ordinary”, there’s not much to get excited about.

Saturday the 15th through to Tuesday the 19th is a real flat spell. Swell drops to between 1ft and 2ft, and even though the wind stays clean and offshore, the energy is minimal and the conditions are poor. You’d be wasting your time paddling out.

Wednesday the 19th sees a tiny lift with a 3ft WNW groundswell at 12 seconds, and the energy climbs to moderate (278). It’s still just “very ordinary” though, and the wind is a moderate offshore breeze, so it’s okay for a desperate paddle but nothing more.

Thursday the 20th is probably the best of a very average bunch. We get a 3ft WNW swell at 11 seconds with moderate energy (388) and a lighter offshore breeze. It’s clean but small and still labelled “very ordinary”.

From Friday the 21st to the 25th, we go through a wave of poor conditions and then some marginal forecasts. On the 22nd and 23rd, the swell picks up to 7ft to 8ft from the NNW, which is too big for beginners and only for the experienced crew. But the period is only 7 seconds – that’s short-period wind chop, so it’s going to be messy and lumpy. The energy is strong to very strong (526-694), but the quality is marginal. With those strong offshore winds, this setup actually looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Things get a bit interesting right at the end of the outlook. On Thursday morning, 27 August, we see a 6ft NNW groundswell with a 10-second period and strong energy (601). Again, it’s marked as marginal. Then on Friday the 28th, we’ve got 6ft to 6ft NNW at 7 seconds, also marginal.

Honestly, there isn’t one standout session in this whole forecast. The best bet for a clean but small wave is Thursday 20th, and for the bigger but messier stuff, it’s Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd, but that’s for experts only in lumpy conditions. It’s a quiet period for Port Orford, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Keep an eye on it – forecasts can change.

Rusty.

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