Spring Lake Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, and I’m looking straight at the outlook for Spring Lake. Let's be real with each other.

Right off the bat, I gotta be honest: the next 16 days are almost a total write-off for any decent surf here. The swell energy is just pathetic for most of it, barely cracking 45 in that combined energy reading, and the wind is constantly messing things up. We’ve got a long stretch of nothing really worth paddling out for, starting now and dragging on for over a week. It’s a tough run.

The only time things even *think* about waking up is around Wednesday the 2nd of September. The combined swell energy finally bumps up into the moderate range, hitting 124 on the Wednesday morning and staying around there. The problem is, the wind turns nasty on that Wednesday – a strong cross-onshore at 12 to 18 mph from the south. That’s turning the water into lumpy, choppy junk. Even with the swell trying to push up to 4 ft, it’s a mess. The wave comment doesn’t lie: poor surf conditions.

We finally get a small window late on Thursday the 3rd of September. It’s still not great, but it’s the *best* on offer. Thursday afternoon the wind swings offshore from the WNW at 15 mph. The swell is a weak 3 ft from the SE with a short period of 6 seconds, and the combined energy is a moderate 103. The report calls it “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions.” That’s a dead-set perfect description. It’s clean because of the offshore wind, but the swell is gutless. For an absolute die-hard, it might be worth a look to get wet and enjoy the clean conditions, but don’t expect anything with any punch.

After that, it drops straight back into the doldrums. From Friday the 4th of September all the way through to the end of the outlook on Sunday the 13th, we're looking at tiny waves – mostly 1 ft to 2 ft – and the wind keeps switching around. The combined energy stays below 70 for most of that. There’s another brief spike around Monday the 7th of September with a 4 ft swell from the SSE, but once again, the energy is moderate at best and the conditions are just described as “very ordinary.”

So, if you absolutely *have* to paddle out, your only real shot is Thursday afternoon the 3rd. It’s clean, but it’s small and weak. Otherwise, save your wax and wait for the next system. For a place like Spring Lake that’s a consistent sandbar, this is a remarkably flat and poor run. It’s more of a kite-surfing chop-fest than a surfers’ paradise right now.

Rusty.

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