Stinson Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what Stinson Beach has cookin’ for us over the next couple of weeks.

Alright, we’ve got a bit of a flat spell to start, so don’t bother paddling out just yet. The first real chance to wet a line comes on Saturday the 18th of July, and honestly, it’s a tough one. The morning session is your best bet. We’re lookin’ at a tiny 2ft swell from the southwest, but the wind is light and variable, keeping things clean. The energy is weak (494), and the period is a surprisingly long 17 seconds, which is a classic groundswell signal. That long period should give you some shape, but the size is just too small to get excited about. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing to write home about.

Sunday the 19th through Thursday the 23rd is more of the same, or worse. The swell hovers around the 2ft to 3ft mark, and the wind is almost always a cross-onshore affair, messing up the surface. Expect some choppy, bumpy conditions. You’ll see energy readings mostly in the 300s and 400s – weak stuff. Friday the 24th sees a jump in period to 24 seconds, which is a very long groundswell, pushing the energy up into the 800-900 range, but it’s still only 3ft and the wind is a moderate cross-onshore, so it’s gonna be a messy, long-period chop.

Now, we start to see some life over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of July. The swell is still small at 3ft, but the period stays long (19-21 seconds), and the energy jumps up to four digits – 1248 on Saturday morning and 1149 on Sunday morning. The wind is lighter on those mornings, giving you a chance at some cleaner, longer-period lines, though the wind is still cross-onshore. It’s beginning to look a little more interesting.

The real standout, the one you need to circle on your calendar, is Tuesday the 28th of July. The morning session is the pick of the whole forecast. Look at that: a 5ft swell from the southwest, with a 17-second period, pushing the energy to a strong 1721. And the wind? Light and onshore, which means it’ll be glassy and clean. This is the kind of window where Stinson can show its best face. It’s a fairly exposed beach, but with that size and period, it’ll be a proper, solid groundswell. Keep in mind the afternoon gets a bit bigger (6ft) and the wind switches to a cross-onshore, ruining it a bit, but that morning is the one.

After that, the swell drops back through the 4ft to 4ft range for the rest of the week, with energy sliding back into the 600-900 range. The winds stay mostly cross-onshore, so it’ll be a bit of a battle.

Then, as we head into the very end of the month and the start of August, the swell direction shifts to the west-northwest. The size picks up to 5ft to 6ft, but the period drops right off to a short, weak 8-9 seconds. That’s windswell, not groundswell. The energy is only in the 500-800 range, and the wind is generally light on the mornings, but that short period means the waves will be weaker, steeper, and less likely to hold up. It’s a step down in quality from the 28th, and it’s further out, so it’s less certain.

Overall, the best bet is the morning of Tuesday the 28th of July. That’s your window for a clean, decent-sized groundswell. The break is fairly consistent, and while crowds are possible, that morning session might be the key to snagging a few clean ones before the afternoon chop sets in.

Rusty.

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