Portwrinkle Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for Portwrinkle. I’ll be straight with you – this isn’t looking like a classic run. The whole 16-day window is a tough one. We’ve got a real blank stretch coming up, with no surf worth talking about for the first week and a bit. It’s one of those periods where the ocean just isn’t playing ball, and a quiet spell like this is more normal for the area.

The first few days, from the 31st of July right through to the 6th of August, we’re looking at tiny, weak swell. The combined energy is barely a whisper, with readings like 3 and 10 (very weak). The wind is mostly cross or cross-on, so it’s not going to be clean. The wave comment is “poor surf conditions” across the board, and that’s all there is to it. There’s nothing to get excited about.

Moving into the 7th and 8th of August, we get a little bump in height, but it’s short-period windswell. The swell direction is from the east and south-southwest, which isn’t the optimum for Portwrinkle’s exposure. The energy picks up a bit, but the quality is still poor. The wind on the 7th morning is offshore from the north, which is promising for clean conditions, but the swell is just too weak and messy to make anything of it.

The only real blip on the radar comes on the 9th of August, a Sunday morning. We’ve got a 4ft swell from the south-southwest with a period of 8 seconds, and the combined energy hits 258 (moderate). That’s the most energy we’ll see in the whole forecast. The trouble is, the wind is a moderate cross-onshore from the east-southeast, making it choppy. It’s the biggest swell on offer, but it’s not clean. For a reef break like Portwrinkle, that cross-onshore chop will ruin the face. This one is a pass for a paddle session; it’s more interesting for the kite surfers to be honest.

After that, from the 10th of August onward, the swell drops right back off into the tiny stuff again. The wind does turn offshore from the north-northwest by the 13th and 14th of August, which gives us glassy, clean conditions, but the swell is just 0.3ft to 0.7ft. There’s no energy to ride.

So, there’s no standout surf here. The best of a bad bunch is the 9th of August if you’re desperate for a paddle, but it’s not going to be pretty. The water temperature is about average for the time of year, so no surprises there.

Rusty.

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