Pyramid Rock Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, crew, Rusty here. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – the next couple of weeks are looking like a write-off for a proper surf. We’ve got a long stretch of onshore wind and junky waves ahead.

The first real window of interest doesn’t show up until the weekend of August 16th and 17th. Before that, from the 7th through the 15th, it’s pretty much all cross-onshore breezes, choppy conditions, and a lot of lumps. The swell does build a bit through the middle of the month, but it’s coming from the ENE and the wind is just ruining any shape it might have. The energy is mostly weak to moderate early on, with combined swell energy values in the 72 to 389 range, but it’s all for nothing with that wind.

Now, the first spot on the list is Pyramid Rock. It’s a reef break that’s fairly consistent, but it just doesn’t like this wind. The optimum swell direction for this place is from the NNE, and we’re getting hammered with ENE and E swells all week. That’s a bad match. The water temp is sitting at about 80°, which is about normal for this time of year, so no surprises there.

Things do start to get a little more interesting around the 16th and 17th. The swell builds up to around 7ft with a period stretching to 10 seconds, and the combined energy jumps into the strong range, hitting values like 935 and 952. That’s some serious juice, but here’s the catch – the wind is still a fresh cross-onshore at 19 to 22 mph. This is going to be a wind-blown mess. For a reef break like this, that’s not going to be pretty. It’s going to be lumpy, bumpy, and probably more of a battle than a joy. Honestly, at this size, with that wind, it might even be more interesting for the kite surfers than us paddle surfers.

After that, the 18th and 19th see the swell start to back down a bit, but the wind finally eases off. By the 19th, we’ve got a gentle breeze and swell around 4ft to 5ft, but the period drops and the energy weakens. It’s better than the week before, but it’s still cross-onshore and fairly choppy. It’s not going to be glassy perfection, but it’s the least bad option we’ve got in the whole outlook.

So, the long and the short of it is this: we’ve got about a week and a half of garbage to wade through before we see any real swell energy, and even then, the wind is going to ruin the party. The standout period, if you can call it that, is the 16th and 17th, when there’s plenty of size and power, but only for those who don’t mind a battle. The cleaner, smaller surf on the 19th is a more realistic option for most of us, but it’s nothing to write home about.

Keep your expectations low, and maybe rig up the kite for a few days. This is a stretch where the ocean is going to win most of the battles.

Rusty.

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