Sunset Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into the long-range surf picture for the next couple of weeks. It’s a bit of a quiet stretch overall, so we’ll need to be patient. The short-term is a no-go for the most part, but there might be a couple of windows worth looking at, especially if you're a beginner with low expectations.

We’re starting at Sunset Beach for a while. The first potential surf we see is on Thursday the 2nd of July but don't get too excited. We’ve got a long-period, 18-second groundswell coming out of the SSW at about 2ft, and the combined wave energy is moderate at 462. The problem is the wind is a cross-on 12 mph from the WSW, so the ocean is going to be choppy and messy. The forecast is calling it poor surf conditions, and I’d have to agree. Water temps are sitting at 67°, which is a touch warmer than normal for the time of year. It’s just not worth paddling out.

The rest of the first week into the second looks pretty grim, with similar small, onshore slop. There's almost a week and a half of no real recommendations, just a run of poor conditions. The swell stays little, the wind keeps turning it ugly, and the scores are flat. It’s a stubborn pattern for this north-facing stretch. For those wondering, the combined energy stays in the hundreds, which is moderate, but with the wind cross-onshore, it doesn’t feel like it.

There’s a glimmer on Sunday the 12th of July – morning has a light onshore wind and 3ft of SSW swell. It gets called “marginal” with questionable tide, so it could be a contest of patience for a 1/10 flop. Not something I’d drive for.

The only real standout across the entire 16 days is Wednesday the 15th of July in the afternoon. Now listen, it’s tiny, only 1ft, but it comes from the SW with a 17-second period. That’s a very long period groundswell, so the energy is clean and straight, but the real winner is the wind: a dead flat, glassy 0 mph from the NNE. That means the ocean will be like glass. The comment even says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions," and I get that for the size, but for a total rookie or a log session, this is the best we’re going to get. The combined energy is moderate at 160. It’s a 1/10, but as close to a glass-off as you’re going to see in this forecast.

After that, we drift into the final few days with more tiny, 1ft SW groundswell but the wind turns onshore again, so it’s back to the scratchy stuff.

There’s no swell over 5ft here, so nothing is too big for beginners from a size perspective. But the poor wind makes it mostly a washout. The break is a sandbar, fairly exposed to the swell, and it can get crowded sometimes, but with this quality, I doubt anyone’s fighting for a peak.

Rusty.

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