San Mateo Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what San Mateo's got cookin' for us over the next couple of weeks. We're lookin' at a point break that needs a good NW groundswell to really light up, but the charts are showin' a whole lot of weak, short-period SW windswell instead. The first few days are a write-off – Wednesday and Thursday, poor surf conditions and cross-chop will have you paddlin' your brains out for nothin'. We're starin' down the barrel of a slow start.

Now, Friday the 24th, there's a little bump in energy. Mornin' shows a small 2ft SW swell with a long 21-second period, and while the energy is gettin' a bit more serious (740), the conditions are still marginal; it's a "maybe" kind of day. Saturday the 25th is where we get our first real taste. The morning session is the standout of the week, hands down. It's glassy with a light S breeze, cleanin' up a 3ft SW swell from the 19-second period. The energy's up there (794), and a 19-second period means long lines – but at a point? That could be real nice. The water's a balmy 80°F, which is much warmer than normal for the time of year – you won't need a thick wetsuit, that's for sure.

Sunday the 26th keeps the magic goin' in the morning. Another glassy start, this time from the SW, with a slightly bigger 4ft swell from the same 17-second period. The energy's solid at 913. Looks like another sweet window for long, clean waves. But afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday, the wind swings cross-onshore and it gets choppy and messy. So it's strictly a dawn patrol mission.

Monday the 27th, the swell size ticks up to 4ft, and the morning is still lookin' rideable with a light cross-shore (1144 energy), but Tuesday the 28th pushes into the 5ft range – that's gettin' into expert-only territory, especially with a shorter 16-second period and cross-chop in the morning. The rest of the forecast trails off. From the 29th onwards, we see swell sizes droppin' from 5ft down to 1ft by Thursday the 6th of August, accompanied by a lot of marginal and poor conditions. The energy takes a nosedive from the 525 range down to a weak 87 by the 6th.

So the big picture: your best bet is to be on the water early on Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th. That's the cream of the crop. A couple of other mornings (like the 24th, 27th, and 28th) have some small, cross-shore potential, but it's a gamble with a lot of chop. And from the 29th onward, we're lookin' at a real slump. If you don't hit that weekend, you might be waitin' a week for a half-decent ripple.

Rusty.

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