Suicide Cliffs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into it.

Straight up, it’s a pretty quiet run ahead for Suicide Cliffs. For the first several days, through to the end of the first week, we’re looking at tiny surf and poor conditions. The swell is small and weak, and the wind is mostly offshore or cross-offshore, which is nice for the surface, but there just isn’t any real energy to work with. The combined swell energy sits down in the low double digits and single digits (8 to 49 range) – that’s barely a ripple. The water temperature is 84°, which is about normal for this time of year.

The real story here is a late burst of bigger, more powerful swell that shows up around the middle of the second week. The standout window is Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th of September. We get a solid pulse of SW groundswell pushing through. On Thursday morning, the swell jumps to 10ft with a very long period of 14 seconds – that’s a serious groundswell. The combined energy hits 3234, which is very strong. The wind is cross-onshore and choppy, so it won’t be glassy, but for experienced surfers, that’s a lot of juice. This is a big, powerful swell that will be breaking heavy and straight at the beach, so it’s strictly for experts. The afternoon cleans up a bit with a cross breeze and the swell drops to 7ft with a 13-second period (energy at 1471). Friday the 18th still has some leftover energy, with 3ft swell from the SW, period around 10 seconds, and a moderate cross-shore chop. The energy drops to the 150-216 range.

Leading up to that, we have a messy day on Wednesday the 16th with a rising 7ft to 8ft S swell (7-8 second period) and cross-onshore winds. Combined energy is 476 in the morning, ramping up to 1105 in the afternoon. It’s choppy and short period, more of a messy, powerful wall than a clean wave.

For the first week and a half, there’s nothing worth paddling out for. The high point, if you can call it that, is the 13th of September with a clean 3ft SSE swell (10-second period, energy 209) and a moderate cross-offshore breeze. It’s small but clean, and crowds are listed as “often” at Suicide Cliffs, so you might have some company for the tiny waves.

If you’re a kiter, the setup on the 16th and 17th with the strong, choppy cross-onshore winds and building swell could be worth a look, but for paddle surfing, it’s a wait-and-see game for the bigger groundswell.

The real standout is the morning of Thursday the 17th of September. It’s a big, powerful SW groundswell with a very long period, but you’ll need to be an expert to handle the heavy, choppy conditions. The afternoon of the 17th is a better bet for a slightly more manageable, though still strong, wave.

Rusty out.

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