Swanage Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Gutted to be the bearer of bad news here, but the next couple of weeks are looking properly flat and grim for this stretch of coast. We’ve got a real dry spell on the surf front, with nothing on the cards that’s worth paddling out for. The swell window is just shut, and what little energy does show up is either too small, too short-period, or gets chopped up by the wind. It’s a tough stretch, but that’s the way it goes sometimes around here.

Looking at the whole 16-day run, there isn’t a single moment I’d honestly recommend you get wet for a proper surf. We start off this Saturday the 15th with a tiny 1ft of swell out of the WSW at 7 seconds, and it’s just not doing anything. The water’s a warm 69°, which is a good six and a half degrees warmer than it should be this time of year—that’s properly unusual, like a warm bath out there. But the waves? Nothing. It’s clean, sure, with a light offshore wind, but it’s just small and weak, with the combined energy only reading a paltry 11.

The whole first week just keeps that pattern going. Sunday the 16th is marginally smaller, Monday and Tuesday are basically flat with the swell dropping to less than a foot, and even when the wind goes properly offshore through the middle of the week, there’s just no swell to push. It’s heartbreaking, really. We see a little blip on Saturday the 22nd with the swell bumping to 3ft from the east at 5 seconds, but the wind is onshore and it’s messy, with weak energy at 36. That’s not surf, that’s just chop.

There’s a long stretch of nothing from about the 23rd through the 27th, all with poor surf conditions, and mostly onshore or cross-onshore winds. The end of the run, around the 28th and 29th, finally sees a bit more size—4ft and then 4ft—but it’s still short-period, east-southeast windswell, and the wind is all wrong. The 29th has the most energy we’ll see (101), which is only just into the moderate category, but it’s onshore and bumpy. It’s not worth the drive.

Honestly, for the first week, the only thing even worth a glance is maybe a quick body-surf session on Saturday the 15th if you’re desperate, just because the water is warm and the surface is clean. But there’s no wave to speak of. The wind and the lack of swell mean the water is going to be flat and featureless for days on end. If you’ve got a kite and it’s blowing, you might get more fun out of that, because the paddle surfing is a total write-off.

Rusty

Read more