Porth Ceriad Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it. It’s Rusty here.

To be straight with you, the next couple of weeks at Porth Ceriad are looking pretty grim overall. There’s surf on offer, but it’s mostly small and the wind is going to make a mess of things more often than not. The first real chance to get wet isn’t until the morning of Thursday the 18th of September, and even then it’s only just surfable. The water temp is sitting at 65°F, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year – a real standout that’s going to feel good in a wetsuit.

The best window in the whole run is the morning of Sunday the 20th of September. We’ve got a 6ft swell rolling in from the west with a 6-second period. The combined wave energy is moderate (284). The wind is glassy, dead calm, and that’s a major point – it’s going to be clean as a whistle. This is the one to circle on the calendar. The swell direction (west) isn't the absolute optimum (southwest) but it's close enough to make it work. The wave comment says “expect good surf conditions” and I believe it. It’s the only session in the whole 16-day stretch that earns that kind of hype. Crowds are often at Porth Ceriad, so expect company.

Now, for the rest of it: Thursday the 18th of September morning has clean 4ft waves, but it’s rated as very ordinary. The wind is light offshore from the NNW, so it’s rideable, but not a standout. The whole run before that is a write-off: on the 10th and 12th we get some bigger swell up to 7ft (moderate energy of 371 and 347), but the wind is strong and cross-onshore, turning it into a messy, choppy scene. The 19th of September gets a bump in size again with 7ft from the west-southwest, but again cross-shore wind and chop spoil it. That’s too big for beginners and with that wind, only worth looking at if you’re a masochist.

After that standout Sunday morning, the wind returns to onshore on Sunday afternoon and the waves drop off fast. The rest of the forecast is small, weak, and wind-affected. The very last session on Wednesday afternoon the 24th of September is glassy and a tiny 2ft, but it’s so small it’s hard to call it surf.

So there it is. One golden window: the morning of Sunday the 20th of September at Porth Ceriad. Clean, chest-high west swell, glassy. Mark it. The rest is a lot of waiting.

Rusty.

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