Porth Ceriad Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, let’s talk about the next couple of weeks. To be honest, it’s a pretty grim outlook for Porth Ceriad. The whole 16-day window is a tough one, with a real dry spell in the middle. We’ve got a few days of surfable – but not great – waves bookending a long stretch of nothing. Let’s get into it.

Things start off small and weak. Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th of August deliver tiny, weak swell – think 1ft to 3ft from the SW at 6 seconds. The combined energy is low, in the single digits to 47 (weak energy). The wind is all over the place, offering a mix of cross-off, cross, and onshore, but the wave quality is just poor. Not worth paddling out for.

Sunday the 30th sees a bump in wind, with a strong onshore breeze. The swell tries to build to 4ft on the afternoon, but with a 5-second period, it’s just messy and blown out. Monday the 31st morning is flat, but the afternoon brings a bit of a pulse – 3ft from the WSW with an 8-second period. The combined energy hits 123 (moderate), and the wind is cross-shore. It’s not clean, but it’s the first bit of real energy. Tuesday the 1st of September is a step back, with onshore winds and weak swell in the 2ft to 3ft range.

Then we hit a major gap. From Wednesday the 2nd through to Friday the 11th of September, there’s a long stretch where the surf quality is consistently poor. The swell is there, but the wind is almost always a problem. On Wednesday the 2nd afternoon, the swell jumps to 7ft from the SW at 6 seconds, with a strong energy reading of 295 (moderate), but the wind is a fresh cross-onshore making it lumpy. Thursday the 3rd is a write-off – a near gale force wind and 6ft of messy swell. That kind of setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The combined energy for that Thursday morning is 292 (moderate). After a brief clean-ish window on Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th, the swell drops right off. From the 6th to the 10th, it’s almost flat, with energy readings in the single digits and zeros. The wind is clean on some days, but there’s nothing to ride. It’s a long, blank run.

The forecast does perk up a bit for the very end. On Saturday the 12th of September, the swell is back with a vengeance. We’re looking at 7ft from the SW at 7 seconds in the morning, with a combined energy of 474 (strong). The wind is a near gale – terrible. But the afternoon is the standout of the whole forecast. The swell drops to 7ft from the SW, still at 7 seconds, with a strong energy of 407, and the wind switches to a cross-off from the NW at 18 mph. That’s clean. That’s the only window in the entire 16 days where the conditions align. For experienced surfers, the afternoon of Saturday the 12th looks like it could be the best on offer, but remember, a 7ft swell is expert territory. The water temperature is 66°F, which is described as much warmer than normal for this time of year, so you won’t need a thick wetsuit.

Hang in there, but don’t get your hopes up until that final Saturday.

Rusty.

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