Portwrinkle Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s have an honest look at what’s coming our way for the next couple of weeks.

To be straight with you, it’s a quiet stretch for Portwrinkle. We’re looking at a long run of small, weak surf with not much to get excited about. The first real chance of anything rideable doesn’t show up until late in the game, so don't bother checking the cam every morning just yet.

The water is sitting at about 63°F, which is much warmer than usual for this time of year – a solid 4°F above the norm, so you can leave the thickest rubber at home if you’re paddling out.

Friday the 3rd kicks off with tiny 2ft swell from the WSW, but it’s a south wind making things messy on the cross. No good. That same story continues right through the weekend and into the following week – we’re talking about swell dropping to 0.7ft or 1ft, mostly from the west, with the combined energy barely hitting double digits. It’s a limp run.

We do get a few glassy mornings, like Wednesday the 8th with a flat calm wind, but the swell is only 0.7ft from the west (7 for energy). Not enough to float you.

Around Friday the 10th, there’s a brief pulse of 3ft swell from the ESE, but the period is a short 4 to 6 seconds – that’s weak windswell, and the wind is cross to cross-on. It’s not going to produce anything worth paddling for. That same mix of tiny swell and onshore wind carries on through the weekend.

The first half of the second week stays flat and small, with the odd glassy moment like Monday the 13th afternoon (0.3ft from the SW, 29 for energy) but again, not enough push.

The best on offer: By far, our standout window is Saturday the 18th morning. The swell bumps up to a modest 2ft from the WSW with an 8-second period, and we get light offshore wind from the NNE. That clean offshore breeze is a major positive here. The combined energy hits 80, which is the highest we’ve seen in this whole outlook, and it’s the only time we get that labelled as “surfable waves.” It’s small, but it’s clean. If you’re desperate, that’s your session.

By the afternoon, that window closes as the wind shifts onshore.

A note for non-surfers: With the persistent small, weak swell and often clean but low-energy conditions, if you’re into kiting, the cross-shore winds on the 9th and 10th might look more fun than a paddle session.

That’s the story from here. It’s not a classic run, but that Saturday morning might just save the trip.

Rusty.

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