Praia das Macas Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on offer for Praia das Macas over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – it’s a quiet start. We’ve got a solid run of days with hardly any surf worth paddling out for. From now through the end of the week, it’s all small, weak energy and grotty wind. The water temp is sitting about average for this time of year, but you won’t care because there’s nothing to surf.

The first real blip on the radar comes Saturday, 19 July. The morning sees a slight uptick, but it’s still pretty poor with cross-onshore wind. The combined energy is moderate at 183, but the cross-onshore breeze will have things bumpy and choppy. The swell is 4ft from the NNW, with a short period of 7 seconds – not exactly shaping up for anything special. The afternoon stays messy, too.

Moving into Sunday, 20 July, the swell holds around 3ft from the NNW, but the wind is onshore. The afternoon shows moderate energy around 153, but it’s still onshore and lumpy. This pattern pretty much sticks through the following week – small NW/NNW swells, consistent but always blown out by cross-onshore or onshore winds. There’s a little bump in energy around Wednesday, 23 July, but again, it’s choppy thanks to a moderate breeze.

We get a bit more size heading into the second week. By Saturday, 26 July, the swell builds to 5ft from the NW in the morning and then drops to 3ft in the afternoon, but here’s the kicker – the afternoon pulses in with a long period of 14 seconds. The combined energy soars to 431, strong, but it’s cross-onshore and lumpy, so that long period groundswell is wasted on the beach break. It would be better suited to a point or reef.

The biggest swell of the whole outlook arrives on Monday, 28 July, and Tuesday, 29 July. Swell hits 7ft to 8ft from the NNW, with combined energy climbing up to 1044 – that’s some serious juice. But again, every session is written off by moderate to fresh cross-onshore winds. The morning of Tuesday, 28 July, sees 8ft of NW swell at 8 seconds – that’s a big, short-period, wind-affected mess. This is more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle-surfing one.

The standout stretch, if you can call it that, is the morning of Sunday, 27 July through Tuesday, 28 July – the swell is biggest, energy is high, but it’s only for experienced surfers (over 8ft) and the wind never cleans up. If you’re a confident charger and don’t mind ugly conditions, Monday the 27th morning has 7ft from the NNW with moderate energy (649) – but it’s cross-onshore and choppy. The wind never goes offshore, and the optimum swell direction of NW is never matched by good wind.

Honestly, for paddlers, these 16 days are a dud. There’s no true standout – the size comes, but the wind ruins it every time. For the kite crew, the later days with big, messy swell and lumpy wind look more interesting.

Rusty.

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