Ritoque Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, the next couple of weeks are a bit of a mixed bag at Ritoque, but there is some solid, powerful groundswell on the way. The first few days are more about building energy with some tricky conditions, but once the wind plays nice, you’ll be in for a treat. For now, the standout window is looking like the early part of next week, particularly Sunday the 6th and Monday the 7th.

Saturday the 5th sees the swell start to kick. The morning’s the pick with a clean 7ft SW groundswell rolling in with a 16-second period. The combined energy is strong at 2446. There’s a light SSE wind giving you a nice cross-off, so the waves will have some shape. This one is for experienced surfers only, as the size is pushing towards the upper end. Later in the afternoon, the wind swings cross-on and the quality drops right off.

Sunday the 6th stays solid, with 7ft of SW swell and a 15-second period in the morning. The energy is still strong (1711). The wind is light and cross-shore, so it's manageable but not perfect. The crowd factor is “sometimes”, so you might have a few out. This is still expert territory at that size. Monday the 7th sees the swell drop a little to 5ft, but the period is still long at 15 seconds. The wind is light cross-on, so it’ll be a bit bumpy but rideable.

Now, if you can wait, Friday the 18th of July is a sneaky dark horse. The morning is looking glassy – absolutely flat calm with a 5ft SW groundswell. There’s no wind to mess it up, so the waves should be clean and lined up. The combined energy is moderate at 994, so the power is manageable. This is a window for all comers, not just the experts.

A quick word on the water: it's about average for this time of year, nothing unusual to report.

There’s a massive spike on Saturday the 12th of July – a 13ft WSW groundswell with a very long period of 15 seconds and a combined energy of 7236. That is a serious amount of power. For a beach-and-reef setup like Ritoque, that long-period groundswell can make the waves jack up and close out. The notes say it looks too big for this break, so that one is likely more of a kite-surfing show than a paddle session. Sunday the 13th keeps the size up around 8ft but the wind gets rowdy, so conditions get messy.

The second week starts to fade. Swell sizes drop back into the 5ft to 6ft range, with periods staying around 13-16 seconds. The wind is mostly cross or cross-on, so nothing pristine until that Friday glass-off. By the 20th of July, the swell drops right off to 2ft, and the outlook goes quiet.

Stay safe out there.

Rusty.

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