Strandhill Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cooking for Strandhill over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you: the next few days are a right-off. We’ve got a real flat spell on our hands. From Thursday the 20th right through to Sunday the 23rd, it’s just tiny, messy, cross-on junk. Winds are howling out of the north, keeping things choppy and lumpy, and swell heights are barely ticking over 1 ft to 3 ft. The water is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year at 62°, which is a nice detail, but it's not enough to get you in the water. Even the glassy moments on Sunday morning and afternoon with barely a ripple are on swells so small (0.7 ft to 1.0 ft) there’s nothing to ride.

Okay, now we’re talking. The first real glimmer of hope comes on Monday, the 24th of August. We get a shift in the wind to a gentle offshore from the southeast, and that’s going to clean things right up. The swell bumps up to 4 ft out of the WNW with a period of 11 seconds—that’s proper groundswell. The combined energy reads 308 (moderate), and with those offshore winds, you’re looking at clean, lined-up waves. Monday afternoon holds at 3 ft. This is your standout window for the whole forecast. The break is a beach/sandbar set-up, so that long period might make it a bit straight, but with the wind on it, I’d be out there.

After Monday, things get a bit ordinary again. Tuesday the 25th sees the swell drop right back to 2 ft, and the wind goes cross-off from the ESE, so it’s clean but tiny. Wednesday and Thursday are similar—clean but small, with the odd window of glassy conditions on Thursday morning the 27th, but the swell is only 2 ft. It’s better than the first few days, but nothing to get excited about.

Then we get a bit of a pulse late in the run. The end of August and start of September sees some bigger, more powerful swell, but the wind is all wrong. From the 28th onwards, we’ve got onshore and cross-on winds from the WNW and NW, ruining the shape. The swell gets serious—on the 29th of August, we’re looking at 5 ft and the combined energy hits 413 (strong), and by the 4th of September, it’s pushing 7 ft with a 12-second period and a massive energy reading of 1357. That’s a lot of power, but it’s all blown out. The wind is howling onshore at 12-15 mph, making it a choppy, lumpy mess. That’s more of a kite-surfing scenario than a paddle-surfing one, to be honest.

To sum it up: the first few days are a total dud, then Monday the 24th of August is your absolute best bet with clean 4 ft groundswell and glassy offshore winds. After that, it’s mostly small or messy, with a big, powerful swell at the end that’s unfortunately blown out. If you only get one session, make it that Monday.

Rusty.

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