Rodanthe Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's take a good look at what's cooking for Rodanthe Pier over the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, I'm looking at a pretty bleak stretch ahead. The entire 16-day window is a struggle, with no real quality to speak of. We’re looking at a run of small, weak, and messy conditions that hardly ever lets up. There’s a long gap of completely unrideable stuff from the start, and even the bigger pulses later on are riddled with problems.

We start off with a proper dud. On Tuesday the 15th, the wind is howling out of the NE at 19 mph, making a right mess of the 4ft swell. The period is a poor 6 seconds, and it's all cross-on. Wednesday and Thursday don't get much better; the swell just fades away into knee-high nothing with that same nasty cross-shore wind. The combined energy is weak, dropping to just 46 on Thursday morning, so there is no push.

Friday the 18th is interesting – the wind goes light and offshore from the SW, which will make the 2ft wave faces look clean, but it's just too small to get excited about. That pattern of clean but tiny holds through the weekend and into early the next week.

Now, there is a bit of a pulse that shows up on Friday the 25th. We get a jump to 5ft from the NNE. The combined energy ticks up to 158, which is a moderate reading. But here’s the kicker – that wind swings to a brisk 16 mph from the NNW. It's cross-off, so the waves will be 'clean' in a wind-sculpted way, but that’s a moderate breeze making it tough. It’s still only a 6-second period, so it’s gonna feel weak and bumpy. Not really a surfer’s wave.

The biggest numbers show up right at the tail end, on the 29th of September and the 30th. We see swell size hitting 6ft on Tuesday afternoon, and then 7ft to 8ft on Wednesday. The combined energy gets strong, hitting 557 and 687. That’s a lot of water moving. But it’s all from the NE with a short period of 8 seconds, and the wind is a brutal cross-onshore at 22 mph. That right there is the recipe for a lumpy, junkyard closeout. Too messy for fun, and at that size, too much for beginners to be safe in those conditions.

Water temp at the start is a nice 80°, which is a touch warmer than normal for the time of year, so you could sit out there in boardies, but you wouldn't want to.

Bottom line: There is no standout. I can’t in good conscience recommend a single session. The whole 16 days is a bust. The breezes are just too persistent from a bad direction for this beach/jetty setup, and when the swell does finally arrive, it’s paired with awful wind. This is just a tough run for this stretch of coast. Keep the board in the car and wait for the charts to look friendlier.

Rusty.

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