Porthtowan Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, let's have a look at what's on offer for Porthtowan over the next couple of weeks. Straight up, I gotta be honest with you – it's a bit of a grim stretch for the most part. The wind is just not playing ball, and the surf quality is getting hammered.

We're looking at a long run of poor surf conditions starting from Wednesday, 19th August. The swell is there, but it's ragged. Wednesday morning has a 4ft swell from the WNW with a 9-second period, but the wind is onshore at 12 mph, and the combined energy is only 302 – weak and messy. It gets worse from there. Thursday the 20th sees a jump in size to 8ft in the morning, but the wind is a fresh cross-onshore, and the energy is moderate at 954. It's lumpy, it's choppy, and it's not surfable. This pattern of cross-onshore winds and junky conditions carries right through the rest of the week and into the next. Friday, Saturday, Sunday... all the same story. The swell drops right off by Sunday the 23rd to a tiny 1.0ft, and while the period is long at 14 seconds, the energy is a paltry 65. Not worth getting wet for.

There's a real blank run here. From the 19th right through to the morning of Thursday, 27th August, there's just nothing to recommend. That's over a week of onshore crap.

Now, Thursday the 27th is a bit of a tease. The morning shows a 8ft swell from the WNW with a period of 11 seconds and a combined energy of 1245 – that's a strong, solid amount of energy. The wind is a light cross-onshore and the model flags it as "marginal". It's a big swell, over 8ft, so that's expert-only territory. The problem is it's a beach break, and with a period of 11 seconds, it's got some groundswell to it, but the wind is still not clean. It's the only thing that even gets a score above zero, but I wouldn't be rushing.

The rest of the run into September is more of the same. Strong winds, big messy swells. By the 30th of August, we're seeing a 10ft swell with 19 mph onshore winds. On the 31st, it's a 13ft monster with fresh onshore winds. The energy numbers are massive – 4196 and 4299 – but it's a washing machine. This is more kite-surfing territory than paddle surfing. The sheer power and onshore wind will make it a brutal, closed-out mess.

The water temperature anomaly isn't mentioned, so it's about average for the time of year.

Honestly, if you're looking for a clean, fun wave, you're not going to find it here in this forecast. The only faint glimmer is that Thursday morning, 27th August, but with the caveats of size and wind, it's a long shot. The best advice is to wait for the next forecast update.

Rusty.

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