Road K Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s happening for Road K over the next sixteen days.

The outlook is lean. There’s a long stretch of small, choppy, and wind-affected surf through the first week and a half, with only a few brief windows of half-decent conditions. The standout is a late burst of energy around the 17th, but it comes with a major caveat. For the most part, it’s a waiting game, but there’s a glimmer of something promising if you’re patient.

The water temp is sitting at 71°F, which is about average for this time of year, so nothing special there.

We kick off the period on Saturday the 5th of September with a tiny 1ft SE swell. The wind is offshore from the NNW, but it’s so small it’s hardly worth paddling out. The energy is weak (20). Sunday the 6th brings a bit more size with a 3ft ENE swell in the morning, but the cross-shore wind makes it messy. The afternoon goes glassy, but the swell drops back to 2ft, and the energy is still low (51). Not much to get excited about.

Monday the 7th is clean in the morning with a light offshore and a 1ft E swell, but it’s tiny. This theme of small, clean but weak surf continues through Tuesday the 8th and Wednesday the 9th. Wednesday afternoon sees a jump in wind strength with a fresh cross-onshore, and the swell gets bumpy at 4ft, but the quality is poor.

Thursday the 10th is the first day with some real push. The swell builds to 6ft from the SSW, but a fresh cross-shore wind creates a lumpy cross-chop. The energy is moderate (339), but the wind ruins it. This continues into Friday the 11th with a cleaner 3ft S swell, but it’s still small. A few of these days have surfable waves, but nothing worth calling a session.

From Saturday the 12th right through to Wednesday the 16th, it’s a run of small, weak, and mostly choppy conditions. Swells hover around 1ft to 3ft, energy is low, and the wind is rarely your friend. You’d be fighting the wind more than the wave.

Now, here’s the interesting part. On Thursday the 17th of September, the swell story changes. The forecast shows a 10ft E swell rolling in with a period of 8 seconds. The energy rockets up to 1020 in the morning and 1141 in the afternoon. That’s a strong pulse of energy. The wind is a cross-shore in the morning, turning to a cross-offshore in the afternoon. This is the best window of the entire forecast. For experienced surfers, this is the one to watch. The afternoon session on the 17th looks clean, with a solid 10ft wall of E swell. This is a proper groundswell-sized event, but remember, a period of 8 seconds means it’s windswell, so it’ll be a bit raw and lumpy. Still, it’s the only window with real power.

Friday the 18th sees the swell drop but still holds at 8ft, but the wind shifts back to an onshore direction, making it messy. The tail end of the period from Saturday the 19th into Sunday the 20th fades back to small, weak, and wind-affected surf.

The only real standout in this entire 16-day window is the afternoon of Thursday the 17th. It’s a big, powerful swell with clean conditions, but it’s a short-period windswell and only for the experienced. The rest of the time, it’s small and choppy. If you’re a kite surfer, the strong winds and lumpy conditions on the 9th, 10th, and 18th might be more interesting than paddle surfing.

Stay patient, and keep an eye on that 17th.

Rusty.

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