Rainbow Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get straight into it. The next couple of weeks are going to test your patience if you’re chasing waves around here. We’ve got a few early pulses of energy, but the winds and the swell angles are gonna make things messy more often than not. The real window of opportunity is short and sweet, so you gotta be on it when it lines up.

We start off on Thursday, September 10th. There’s a solid 10ft of south-southeast swell pushing through at Rainbow Bay, with a 9-second period. The energy is strong (1467), but the wind is howling from the south at 22 mph. It’s offshore, so the face will be clean, but that’s a lot of water moving for a beginner spot. It’s a point break, so it will hold, but this is more for the experienced crew. The water temp is about average for this time of year, nothing out of the ordinary. The wind backs off a bit for the afternoon, still offshore, making it a bit more manageable, but it’s still well overhead.

Friday, September 11th, sees the swell ease to 7ft, still from the SSE. The south-southeast wind drops to 12 mph in the morning, giving us a cleaner, more forgiving wave, especially for the better surfers. The energy is moderate (753). It’s still a good size, but the quality is better. The afternoon gets a bit more tricky with a cross-offshore breeze and a slightly smaller swell. Fairly consistent, but it’s not the standout.

Saturday, September 12th, the swell drops to 5ft in the morning with a light offshore wind. It’s cleaner, and the energy is moderate (364). It might be surfable for the more capable, but it’s not exactly firing. The period drops to 8 seconds, so it’s not packing much punch.

By Sunday morning, the swell is down to 4ft, and the winds go cross-offshore. It’s getting pretty weak and ordinary. The energy is still moderate (306), but the waves are fat. From here, we hit a flat spell. For several days, from Sunday afternoon all the way through to the end of the week, there is nothing worth paddling out for. The swell drops to under 3ft, the winds are all over the shop, and the energy just dies. It’s a dead period, no two ways about it. You’d be better off doing a beach clean-up or fixing your dings than looking at the ocean.

Then things get interesting again. On Wednesday, September 16th, a new pulse of south-southeast swell shows up in the afternoon, jumping to 6ft. The period is short, but the energy is moderate (442). The winds are cross-offshore and clean. It’s a bit of a tease, though, as the morning is tiny. Then it’s another flat spell right through to the weekend.

The next real highlight, and the only one I’d get excited about, is on Saturday, September 19th. The swell bumps up to 8ft from the SSE in the afternoon, and the energy is strong (694). But, and this is a big but, the wind is onshore from the north-northeast. This is a letdown. Clean swell, but the breeze will chop it up.

Then, on Thursday, September 24th, we get the biggest pulse of the run. A 10ft south-southeast swell, with strong energy (1036) in the morning, building to 1411 by the afternoon. But the wind is howling onshore from the north. It’s going to be a messy, blown-out mess. This is big, but it’s only for the experts, and even they are going to have to work for it. The following day, Friday the 25th, it’s still 8ft from the same direction, but those northerly winds are still ruining it.

So, if you’re looking for the one to circle in the calendar, it’s Friday, September 11th. A solid 7ft SSE swell, a light offshore breeze, and a point break that handles it well. The energy is good (753), and the winds are right. It won’t be perfect, but it’s the best of a tough fortnight. It’s a far cry from the junky, onshore slop we’re going to see later. Get on it if you can.

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