Swanage Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's cookin' for our little corner of the coast.

Alright, I gotta be straight with you. The next week and a half is going to be a tough one for anyone looking to get wet. We’re looking at a long stretch of flat or tiny, junky waves here. The first real window where you might even consider paddling out doesn’t show up until mid-month, but it’s still not great.

To start, we’ve got absolutely nothing doing. From now through the 13th, it’s basically a lake. Tiny 0.3ft slop with weak energy (3) and poor conditions. The only highlight in that stretch is maybe Thursday morning the 9th, when it’s glassy (0.3ft, 3), but there’s just no water moving. Not worth the wetsuit struggle. This flat spell runs for days.

Now, as we head toward the second week, things get a little more interesting, but I’d keep your expectations in the car park. On Tuesday the 14th, the afternoon brings a pulse of 5ft easterly swell (119 combined energy), but it’s onshore wind and only a 6-second period, so it’s going to be lumpy and weak. Wednesday the 15th morning pushes up to 5ft from the east (177 combined energy) – that’s the biggest we see – but it’s 25 mph onshore wind from the east making a mess. It’s really more of a wind-swell mess than a surfable wave. The period is short (6 seconds), so it’ll close out fast at Swanage. That stormy, blown-out energy is really only going to appeal to the kite crew, not us paddle surfers. A 5ft wave with that much wind and short period is a tough go.

The best chance for a surfable wave, and I'm scraping the barrel here, looks to be Friday the 17th. The morning shows some light cross-offshore wind from the NNW and a little 2ft swell from the SW (24 combined energy). It’s clean, but tiny. The afternoon gets even cleaner with a fresh offshore from the WSW, though it’s only 1ft. Saturday the 18th also has clean conditions in the morning with light wind and a 1ft SW swell, and the afternoon picks up a little to 2ft with a fresh breeze but still clean (27 combined energy). That’s the pick of the whole 16 days, but it’s small.

Honestly, there’s no standout here. If you are desperate, Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th mornings offer the cleanest, glassiest windows. But you’ll be on a longboard hunting for waist-high sliders. The crowds at Swanage are sometimes an issue, but with waves this small, it might be just you and the dog walkers. The water temp is about average for this time of year, so the 5/3 is fine.

For the rest of the second week, it stays tiny and mostly clean but totally underwhelming. The period stays short, and the energy never really fires. It’s a long blank run, but that’s Swanage in summer – it’s a fickle spot and this is more normal than not.

Keep your eye on the charts, but for now, take the longboard for a paddle if you need the salt. That’s all she’s got.

Rusty.

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