Praia das Macas Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, let’s be honest with you, the next week or so is a bit of a grind for us here. These first few days we’ve got a lot of messy, cross-onshore wind and a lumpy, poor quality sea state. The swell is there, but it’s short-period windswell with a lot of energy (123 to 1575), but it’s just not going to be any fun. Tuesday the 15th is a write-off, and Wednesday the 16th is not even worth a look—we’re talking 10ft of close-range, blown-out junk with a near gale on it. That's only for the frothers, and even they'll be cursing it. Thursday and Friday are still poor, but there’s a bit of a drop coming.

Now, if you’re patient, it does clean up. Saturday morning on the 19th is where it starts to get interesting. The swell is down to a much more manageable 6ft, coming from the NW with a long 14s period. That’s a proper groundswell, and with glassy conditions and the wind swinging light out of the E, it’s going to be clean and lined up. The energy is strong at 1543, and this is the standout of the whole period. The water is also a bit colder than normal at 66°, which is notable.

Saturday afternoon gets a bit iffy with the wind turning onshore, but Sunday the 20th morning is another gem. It’s slightly smaller at 6ft, but it’s still solid NW groundswell with a 12s period, and we get a clean offshore SE breeze. That's going to be fantastic, clean surf. The energy is moderate at 808, but the quality will be there. Praia das Macas will be the place to be.

After that, it mellows out but stays fun. Monday and Tuesday mornings, the 21st and 22nd, have smaller but clean 3ft to 4ft waves with light offshore winds. Good for the log or a longboard. Then we get another little pulse of groundswell mid-week. Wednesday the 23rd has a 5ft glassy WNW swell with a very long 14s period—that’s another high-quality morning that’s worth setting an alarm for. The week after that (24th through 28th) continues with clean, glassy mornings and fun-sized surf, nothing huge, but really nice conditions. There’s a tiny window on the 27th and 28th mornings where it gets glassy and clean again with a little bump in size—looks promising but it’s further out, so don’t book the time off yet.

That long-period swell might be a bit tricky at the beach break, wanting to close out, but with the clean conditions and the right winds, it should be fine.

So, bottom line: the best of it is Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th. This is the one to go for. The water is a bit colder than normal. If the wind pumps like it’s supposed to, you’d hate to miss it.

Rusty

Read more