Royal Palms State Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here with a look at what’s on offer at Royal Palms State Beach.

Honestly, this stretch is looking like a major struggle for the next couple of weeks. We’ve got a 16-day window ahead, but don’t get your hopes up for the first few days. From now through to around the morning of Monday, 2nd September, the surf is almost entirely poor. We’re talking tiny swell, mostly under 3 feet. Early on, the wind is mostly cross-onshore which just messes everything up, making it choppy and unrideable. The water temp is sitting at 72°F which is a good 6°F warmer than usual for this time of year – that’s very unusual, feels more like a bathtub than the ocean.

Instead of solid swell energy, the combined energy values sit in that moderate zone of 170 to mid-400s for most of this period, which sounds decent on paper but the wind and direction ruin it. We get a sniff of something on the morning of Wednesday, August 26th, when a south swell pushes up to 3 feet with a period of 13 seconds, and the combined energy jumps to 402. The wind is light and cross-on, so it’s not totally blown out. The best call here is the morning of Wednesday, September 2nd. There’s a tiny 2-foot south swell coming in at 12 seconds, but the wind is glassy – that’s a rare clean moment in an otherwise messy run. The energy is weak at 164, but with glassy conditions, you might just get a workable wave if you’re desperate.

After that, the pattern repeats: small swells, cross-onshore winds, and marginal conditions. The energy values climb a bit on the Friday afternoon of September 4th, hitting 600 with a 3-foot south-southwest swell and a 17-second period, but with a moderate cross-onshore breeze it’s just choppy. For a reef and point break that prefers southwest swells, the direction is close but the wind kills it. The crowds can be a factor here sometimes, but this level of quality won’t draw many out.

Bottom line: this isn’t a stand-out period. The one true standout is the glassy morning on September 2nd with that light west-southwest wind. That’s your best chance. If you can wait, the morning of Saturday, September 5th, also offers 3 feet of south-southwest swell with a light cross-on breeze – still marginal but better than the rest. Everything else is a solid pass. For a spot that’s already inconsistent, this blank run is pretty normal for the area. It won’t stay poor forever, but you might be better off finding something else this week.

Rusty

Read more