Thaila Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, gather 'round. Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on the menu for Thaila over the next couple of weeks.

First off, I gotta be straight with you—the water's a bit of a talking point. Out at Thaila, the water temp is sitting at 74°, which is a massive 7° warmer than normal for this time of year. That's very unusual, feels like a bath out there.

The problem is, while the ocean is warm, the surf is just plain flat and messy. We're looking at a long stretch of nothing much. The first few days from Friday the 7th through to the end of the first week are a write-off. We're seeing tiny swells, mostly around 2 ft to 3 ft from the SSW, with a decent period around 15 to 19 seconds giving it some long-period groundswell energy. But the wind is all wrong—it's mostly cross-onshore or onshore from the W or WSW. The combined energy is moderate, hitting a few hundred (302 on Friday, 296 on Saturday), but the wave comment is all "poor surf conditions." It's just chopped up and weak.

We hit a bit of a pulse around the 14th and 15th. The swell inches up to 3 ft to 3 ft, and the energy gets a bit stronger, peaking at 579 on the afternoon of Saturday the 15th. But again, the wind is cross-onshore, making it choppy. It's a classic case of a long-period SSW groundswell being wasted on a reef that needs a clean, offshore wind to really work. The direction is right on the money—SW is the optimum—but the wind just won't cooperate.

The whole 16-day window is a bit of a bummer, to be honest. There's a gap of consistent poor conditions from the 7th right through to the 22nd. Only a couple of afternoons, like Sunday the 9th and Thursday the 20th, get a "marginal" nod, and even then it's just a 1 out of 10. The swell is too small to be interesting, and when it does get a little push, the wind spoils it. For a break that's "fairly consistent", this is a real dry spell.

If you're desperate, the best of a bad bunch is probably the afternoon of Sunday the 16th. The swell is 3 ft from the SSW at 15 seconds, with moderate energy (451). The wind is cross-onshore from the W, so it's not clean, but it's the biggest, most consistent day in the whole run. Still, I wouldn't get too excited.

Honestly, for this stretch, the setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The wind is consistent and onshore, and the swell is just too small and weak to make for a decent surf. The forecasts can change, but right now, I'd give this one a miss.

Stay patient.
Rusty.

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