Punta Brava Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s have a squiz at Punta Brava. It’s a bit of a mixed bag coming up, but the sharp eye will find a few diamonds in the rough. The theme for most of this period is small swell and a lot of onshore wind, so we’re looking for the brief windows of glass.

For the first few days, we are dealing with pretty poor conditions. The wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, and the waves are small. The water’s warm, about 30°, which is a touch above average for this time of year.

The first worthwhile moment is on the Tuesday morning when the wind finally goes offshore. The swell is small at 0.4m from the SSW with a long 18-second period. The wave energy is moderate at 214. It’s clean, but you won’t be getting barrelled. It’s one for the longboard unless you’re a shredder on a performance board.

The middle of the week sees the swell bump up a touch to 0.7-0.8m, but the wind is all over the place. It’s cross-off, cross, and light on. The energy picks up to 456 on Wednesday morning, which is the most we see for a while, but the conditions are only marginal. The period drops to 16 seconds and then down to 14 seconds.

The most promising day is Thursday, the 17th. The morning is looking clean with a light offshore wind and 0.8m of 14-second SSW swell. The energy is at 359. It’s a bit more size and the wind is right, so that’s your best shot at a proper session this week. The next morning, Friday the 18th, is also looking good with glassy conditions and 0.7m of 13-second swell.

For the real standout, you have to look at Sunday, September 20th. The morning is glassy, and while the swell is a dribbly 0.6m, it has a very long 19-second period. The energy is the highest I can see at 376. This is a proper, clean groundswell. It will wrap around the reef and offer some nice, peeling lines on the inside. If you only get one session in the next couple of weeks, this is the one to aim for.

After that, the picture gets ugly. The wind decides to turn back to the southwest and onshore. The waves are still small, around 0.6m, but the period starts to fade. By the 24th and 25th, the period crashes down to 6 seconds, which brings in that short-period windswell chop. It's messy, it's junky, and not worth the paddle out.

There is another small window of glassy conditions on Sunday the 27th with 0.6m of SSW swell, but the energy is weak and it looks like it’s going to be pretty walled up and closey.

So, in a nutshell: the surf is small, and the conditions are mostly challenging. The standout is clearly the 20th. It won't be big, but it will be clean and lined up. For everything else, you'll be battling the onshore breeze for a sloppy, ankle to knee-high dribble. Not the most inspiring outlook, but that’s what it is.

Rusty.

Read more