Satellite Beach/RCs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s break down the next couple of weeks for Satellite Beach/RCs. Straight up, I gotta be honest with you – it’s a tough stretch. The forecast is showing a long, frustrating gap with no real surf to get excited about. We’re looking at sixteen days of mostly small, weak, and messy conditions. The first week and a half is pretty much a write-off, with only a few tiny windows of clean, glassy conditions, but the swell is just too small to do anything with. The combined wave energy is mostly in the double digits, below 100, which is weak (e.g., 14, 18, 83). We don’t see any real energy until the 9th of September, where the combined energy hits 190, but it’s still a poor quality onshore wave. The water temp is sitting at 29°, which is about 0.5° warmer than the norm, so nothing unusual there.

The first real chance to even get a board wet comes on Thursday, September 3rd, but honestly, it’s a struggle. We’ve got a risk of thunderstorms and a light breeze from the East at 6 mph, with a tiny 2ft easterly swell. The period is 9 seconds, so it’s a weak, short-period windswell. The energy is only 83. It’s poor surf. By the afternoon, it gets worse with a cross-onshore wind at 12 mph, bumping the swell to 3ft but the energy jumps to 159 – still moderate but it’s choppy and blown out.

Friday the 4th is more of the same: small, cross-onshore, and poor. Saturday the 5th drops to 1.0ft with a cross-shore wind. Not worth paddling out.

Sunday the 6th and Monday the 7th, the wind turns light offshore or goes glassy, which is a big positive for clean conditions. But the swell is still only 1.0ft with a 9-second period. It’s clean, but there’s no push. You might get a knee-high ripple if you’re desperate.

The best of a bad bunch looks like Wednesday, September 9th. We get a 2ft to 3ft swell from the NE and ENE, with periods around 8 to 10 seconds. The combined energy hits 190 in the morning, which is moderate. The wind is light onshore, so it’s not clean, but at least there’s some energy. The swell direction is matching the optimum swell from the NE, which is good. But it’s still a “poor surf conditions” call. It’s not a standout, it’s just the least bad option.

From the 10th onwards, we’re back to tiny, weak, and mostly onshore or cross-onshore winds. There’s a few glassy mornings on the 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, but the swell is a pathetic 1.0ft to 2ft. Even with glassy conditions, you can’t surf what isn’t there.

Honestly, for the whole 16-day period, there is no standout. If you’re a beginner, the swell never gets over 5ft, so it’s not too big, but it’s also not big enough to be fun. For experts, there’s nothing to even look at. The consistent crowd factor at Satellite Beach means you’ll have company, but there won’t be any waves to fight over. This is a classic flat spell for the area. It’s not unusual to have a blank run like this. Forecasts can change, so keep an eye on it, but for now, I’d say save your energy and wax. This is a kite-surfing setup only if the wind has any guts, but for paddle surfing, it’s a no-go.

Rusty.

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