Rat Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get real about Rat Beach (reef). I’m not gonna sugarcoat it — this stretch is pulling a major blank. Out of the entire 16-day window, we’ve barely got anything that’s worth paddling out for. The water is sitting at 72°F, which is a whopping 7°F warmer than usual for this time of year — that’s seriously unusual, like swimming in a warm bath. But the waves? Forget it.

The first real surfable moment shows up on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th. We’re talking tiny 1ft of swell from the SW, with a super long period of 15 seconds — that’s groundswell, but it’s so small it barely registers. The wind is light and cross-off, so the surface is clean, but the wave energy is just weak at 68. It’s more of a paddle than a surf. The same story repeats Wednesday morning, August 5th: 1ft, SW, 14-second period, clean again, but still only 78 energy. The whole week rolls on like this — Thursday the 6th, Friday the 7th — all mornings give you that same 1ft to 2ft SW groundswell, clean conditions, but the height is just too small to get excited about. The energy never cracks 100 until later.

Now, things look a little more interesting heading into Tuesday, August 11th. The morning brings 1.0ft — still tiny — but the period jumps to 18 seconds, which is very long period groundswell. The energy is 85, still weak, but the wind is light and cross-off, so it’s clean. But here’s the kicker: that afternoon, the swell bumps up to 2ft from the SW, 18 seconds, and the energy hits 154 — moderate energy for the first time. Problem is, the wind swings cross-shore and the surf gets messy. Not worth it.

Wednesday, August 12th, the morning holds 2ft, SW, 17 seconds, 170 energy — that’s the most energy we’ll see all window. But the wind is cross-shore, and the conditions are described as “poor.” The rest of the week just repeats the same pattern: a bit of long-period groundswell, but the wind is never right, and the wave quality stays poor. The energy drops back to weak by the weekend.

Honestly, there’s no standout here. The best of a bad bunch is the morning of Tuesday, August 11th — clean, long period, but you’ll be scratching for 1.0ft waves. The afternoon of August 12th has the most energy (170), but the wind kills it. The rest is just a write-off with gaps of days where there’s nothing worth recommending. For an area where the break is inconsistent, this kind of blank run is not unusual.

Rusty

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