Sandtracks Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here, and I’m not gonna sugarcoat it – the next couple of weeks at Sandtracks are looking pretty rough. The whole 16-day window is basically a no-go for clean, rideable waves. We don’t even get a single decent session to kick things off.

Let’s break it down. The first real swell shows up on Monday the 7th of September with a 5ft SW swell, but it’s coming in with a 30 km/h cross-on ESE wind. The water’s warm at 81°, which is about average for the time of year, but you won’t be enjoying it. The combined swell energy is strong at 1644 (moderate to strong wave energy), but the wind has it all chopped up and lumpy. That afternoon, it actually builds to 8ft with a 14-second period, and the energy jumps to 4124 – that’s serious power. But again, it’s blown out by a 35 km/h cross-on wind. That kind of size and onshore wind is just messy.

Tuesday the 8th keeps the same theme. Morning has a 8ft SSW swell (period 9 seconds) with a 30 km/h cross-on wind, and the energy is 2131. Afternoon drops to 6ft but the wind is still cross-on at 20 km/h. Not a single window of clean conditions.

Wednesday the 9th sees the swell drop right off to 3ft, but it’s a long-period 14-second groundswell. The energy is weak at 483. The morning has a light cross-on breeze, just a bit of wind ripple, but it’s still cross-on. The afternoon is labeled “marginal” – that’s the best we get, and it’s a 1 out of 10. Not worth paddling out.

From Thursday the 10th all the way through the end of the 16 days, it’s a never-ending loop of cross or cross-on winds, mostly from the ENE, with small to moderate swell. The swell heights bounce between 1ft and 7ft, but the wind is always in the wrong direction. The energy values range from as low as 112 (very weak) up to 1201 (moderate to strong), but it doesn’t matter because the wind keeps it a complete mess.

There’s a period around the 18th and 19th of September where the swell gets up to 7ft to 7ft from the E, with a short 8-second period. The wind is howling from the ENE at 40 km/h, so that’s more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle-surfing one. The energy is strong, peaking at 1201, but it’s just not surfable.

The only highlight that’s barely worth mentioning is the afternoon of the 9th of September – a 3ft, 13-second swell with light wind. It’s marginal, but that’s as close to clean as we get. Even then, it’s still cross-on.

Honestly, Sandtracks is a reef break that’s fairly consistent, but with this persistent cross-shore wind from the ENE, it’s just not going to happen. The swell direction is mostly from the S to SW, which is the optimum, but the wind is the enemy. There’s nothing to get excited about here. The whole forecast is a bust.

Rusty.

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