Ritoque Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the table for the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – the next 16 days are looking pretty grim overall. We’ve got a small window of rideable, but far from perfect, surf to kick things off, then a long stretch of poor conditions that’s hard to get excited about. The real stand-out, if you can call it that, is tomorrow afternoon, but even that’s a messy one.

The water is sitting at 59°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so at least you won’t be freezing your tail off.

Let’s talk about the one spot we’ve got: Ritoque. This is an exposed, fairly consistent beach break that works best with a SW swell. It’s an intermediate spot, and it can get crowded sometimes.

The first decent swell rolls in on Friday, September 4th. The afternoon brings a 8ft SW swell, with a short period of 8 seconds and a moderate combined swell energy of 1125. However, the wind is a 19 mph cross-on from the SSW, which is going to make it lumpy and pretty poor. Honestly, it’s more of a kite-surfing day than a paddle-surfing one.

Saturday morning, September 5th, is a little better. The swell drops to 7ft from the SW, with a longer period of 9 seconds, and the wind eases to 9 mph, still cross-on. The energy is strong at 1471. The conditions are still “fairly choppy” and only marginal. Sunday morning, September 6th, has the wind turning fully onshore from the WSW at 6 mph, with a 5ft SW swell and a long 15-second period. The energy is 1345. That long period might give you some better-shaped waves, but the onshore wind is going to mess with the surface.

After that, from Sunday afternoon onward, it’s a slow bleed. The swell drops, and the wind stays mostly cross-on, with the conditions being described as marginal at best and poor for most of the second week. The combined energy drops from four-digit numbers down to the 300s and 400s by the 12th, which is weak. The waves get smaller, and the period drops, with some readings as low as 6 seconds in the middle of the month. By the 13th and 14th, we’re looking at weak, poor surf with light cross-offshore winds, but the swell is just not there.

The best of a bad bunch is probably that Saturday morning (Sept 5th) with the 7ft swell and 9 mph wind, or Sunday morning (Sept 6th) with the 5ft, 15-second groundswell and onshore wind. Neither is a clean winner, but that’s the pick of the litter.

The long gap of poor conditions runs from the afternoon of the 6th right through to the end of the forecast on the 19th. There’s nothing in the second week that’s worth paddling out for, to be honest.

Stay patient, friends. The ocean will turn around.

Rusty.

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