Portwrinkle Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty. Let's be straight with you about Portwrinkle.

It’s a quiet run for this reef setup. Looking at the whole 16-day forecast, there is a whole lotta nothin' before we get a glimmer of something worthwhile. We're talking over a week of pretty flat, messy, or wind-whipped conditions. The combined swell energy is weak for days on end, with readings in the teens and twenties (29). The wind is mostly cross or cross-onshore, kicking up chop. This isn't really a paddler's game for a while. For the first week, the water temp is about average for the time of year, but that won't be much comfort when the waves are junk.

Monday, August 24th through Saturday, August 31st – It’s a bust. Monday morning has a wobbly 0.2m swell from the SSW with a 40 km/h crosswind. It's a write-off. The rest of the week sees tiny swells and strong, wrong-direction winds. Wednesday morning the 26th goes glassy and clean with a light southerly offshore, but there’s only 0.4m on offer – you’d be bobbing, not surfing. Even the bigger pulse on Thursday afternoon, 1.9m from the SW, has poor quality thanks to lumpy cross-onshore wind. Not for us. The combined energy hits 804, which is moderate to strong, but it's wasted.

Monday, September 1st to Friday, September 5th – More of the same. Clean mornings on the 1st and 5th, but the swell is tiny (0.4m to 0.8m) and weak. Thursday the 3rd has the best looking numbers of this sorry stretch, with a 1.5m SW swell and a clean, cross-offshore wind from the WNW in the afternoon. The combined energy is 358, but the wave comment tells the tale: choppy and messy. It’s a frustrating tease.

Saturday, September 6th – THE STANDOUT – At last, something to talk about. This is the one. Saturday morning is the pick of the entire outlook. The swell is still only 1.0m, but it’s a very long period groundswell of 19 seconds from the SW, with combined energy hitting 738. The wind is light, offshore from the NW – glassy, clean conditions. For a reef like Portwrinkle, that long-period energy will wrap in with proper shape and power. It’s inconsistent by nature here, so don't expect non-stop waves, but the ones that come through will be worth paddling for. The morning is the clear winner.

Sunday, September 7th – A smaller echo of the day before. Another clean, cross-offshore morning with 0.9m from the WSW and a 14-second period. Combined energy drops to 415. It’s a decent option if you missed Saturday, but not the standout.

The long-range stuff on Tuesday, September 8th shows a bump in size to 1.7m from the WSW, but the period drops to 7 seconds – a weak, short-period windswell. Combined energy is 377, but the quality is marginal. Not one to plan around.

So, bottom line: sit tight through a long, flat, blown-out week. Your one true window of opportunity is the morning of Saturday, September 6th. That’s the one where the stars align for a clean, long-period, small but punchy session at the reef. Get on it.

- Rusty

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