Porto da Cruz Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, ol' Rusty here, and I've been staring at the charts for our stretch of coast. Gotta be straight with you – it's a bit of a tough spell ahead. The forecast is calling for a lot of cross-onshore wind and generally poor conditions, so we're not looking at anything that's going to get the heart racing just yet. There's a real gap of nothing happening for the first few days, but don't write the whole 16 days off just yet.

Let's start with the first real chance to get wet, which is a bit of a non-starter. We're looking at Porto da Cruz from Friday the 17th of July. The water temp is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, sitting at 75°. The problem is, from the get-go, we've got a tiny swell, only 1 ft from the NNE, with a short period. The wind is a light breeze but it's coming from the north, which is a cross-on shore. That's the story for the whole first week, really. The swell does slowly build, but it's a frustrating combo of small, weak energy and that persistent cross-on wind. The wave comment says it all: "poor surf conditions." It's not going to be any good for a paddle.

By Monday the 21st of July, the swell is starting to tick up a little, hitting 4 ft from the NE, and the energy is climbing. But the wind is still a steady 15 km/h cross-on. It's still "poor surf conditions." This pattern of building swell but with a chopped-up, cross-onshore surface continues right through the week. The swell gets bigger, over 5 ft by Saturday the 25th of July, which is getting a bit too much for beginners, but the wind is also picking up to 20 km/h, making it a proper mess. The energy is getting strong, but it's all for nothing with that wind.

Now, if you're a kite surfer, this might be your window. The swell is building to 7 ft on the 26th, with strong energy, but the surf quality is just blown out. For a paddle surfer, it's a no-go.

The real standout, if you can call it that, is a purely promising one for the future. Look at the 31st of July. The morning is still a bit rough, but then in the afternoon, we get a notable shift. The swell direction swings to the N, and the period jumps to a very long 12 seconds. That's proper groundswell energy. The combined energy is massive. The only catch is that the wind is still a moderate 20 km/h cross-on, so it's not clean. But it's a sign of things to come.

Then, on Saturday the 1st of August, the swell is even bigger. We're seeing 8 ft from the NNE with a period of 9 seconds. The energy is huge. This is now expert territory, and it's a point-break/reef setup, so that long period energy might actually work well there. But again, the wind remains a moderate cross-on. It's a big, powerful, and messy wave. It's the best on offer, but it's a long way off and the wind is the big question mark. For a spot that is only fairly consistent, and with crowds that are often there, it's a gamble.

So, for the next week and a half, it's a write-off. The first real glimmer of hope is that last week of July into the first of August, but it's a promise with a lot of wind attached. The forecasts can always change, but right now, it's a tough run.

Rusty.

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