Porthcawl Point Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s have a look, folks. Rusty here.

Well, I gotta be straight with you – this outlook is a tough one. Looking at the whole 16-day run for Porthcawl Point, it’s a real desert. The swell is tiny for the entire forecast period, and what little energy we get is mostly windswell with short periods. There simply isn’t a single standout day worth getting excited about. The first wave of any kind isn't even on the radar until Wednesday the 29th of July, and even then it's only 2ft of slop with a 5-second period and a nasty cross-onshore wind from the west at 12 mph. The combined swell energy is a paltry 15 – that's next to nothing. The water temp is a wild 69°, which is a huge 8° warmer than usual for this time of year – really unusual.

The whole first week is just a write-off. Thursday the 30th stays poor, Friday the 31st is no better, and the first weekend of August is the same story: tiny waves and onshore wind. The only flicker of something cleaner comes on Sunday the 2nd of August. The swell is still unbelievably small at 1ft, but we finally get a light cross-offshore breeze from the ESE at 6 mph. The period pushes up to 8 seconds, and it’s described as “clean.” It’s not surfable, but you can see the potential. Monday the 3rd of August morning is similar – tiny but clean with a cross-off wind from the east at 16 mph. By Monday afternoon, it goes glassy with a south wind at just 3 mph, but the swell is a pathetic 1ft with a 9-second period (energy of 19). If you have a longboard and no standards, you might get a knee-high dribble.

Then it flatlines again. From the 4th of August all the way through to the middle of the month, it’s a nightmare. Swell heights barely hit 1ft, periods are short, and when it does get clean with offshore winds – like on Friday the 7th of August with a 19 mph east wind or Saturday the 8th with a 22 mph east wind – the swell is gone, down to 0.3ft and 0.7ft. It’s just a cruel tease. The combined energy on those days is 3 and 17 – basically nothing.

The only other time it looks half-decent is at the very tail end. Thursday the 13th of August morning shows 1ft from the WSW with a 9-second period, a light cross-offshore NNW breeze at 9 mph, and clean conditions. The energy is 16, so still tiny, but at least the wind is right. But that’s 16 days out – way too far to have any confidence in.

Honestly, this setup is so marginal that with the persistent cross and onshore winds, the beach-and-point setup here looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing for most of the run.

Rusty out.

Read more