The Breakwater-St Ives Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, mate, it’s a pretty grim stretch for The Breakwater-St Ives. We’ve got a whole lot of days with poor surf quality and not much to get excited about. The first real sniff of any action is a bit of a non-starter, so we’re looking at a long, quiet run.

The first thing to note is that the overall pattern is weak. The swell energy is low, and the winds are all over the shop, mostly cross or cross-onshore, which just chops things up. The water’s a touch warmer than normal for this time of year at 65°, but that’s about the only positive.

For Monday morning, the 3rd of August, we see a small 3 ft WSW swell with a 9-second period. The energy is weak (107), and while the wind is a light offshore from the SSE, the conditions are described as ordinary. It’s surfable, but there’s no standout quality here. The afternoon goes clear with a stronger SSW wind, and the swell drops to 3 ft, but the score is a zero – it’s just poor.

Tuesday the 4th is a write-off. The swell jumps a bit to 4 ft from the SW, but it’s a short period (7 seconds) and the wind is a strong cross-off from the SW, which is no good. Wednesday the 5th sees the biggest swell of the period at 7 ft from the W, but it’s a short-period windswell and the wind is a fresh cross-shore from the WNW, creating a lumpy cross-chop. The energy is moderate (441), but the conditions are terrible for surfing.

The rest of the first week and into the second is a desert. Thursday through to the following Monday offer tiny waves, mostly under 3 ft, with periods that are too short. There’s a glassy moment on Friday morning the 7th, but the swell is only 1 ft, so it’s a total flat spell. The same applies to Saturday morning the 8th – glassy but tiny.

This pattern of small, weak, and messy continues right through the second week. We see a few pulses of swell, like on Sunday the 16th of August, where there’s a 5 ft N swell (226 energy), but it’s a short 6-second period and the wind is a cross-onshore from the NNW, so it’s choppy and poor. Even the long-period swell on the 15th of August (21 seconds, 0.3 ft) is laughably small.

So, there’s no standout break here. The whole 16-day window is a dud for The Breakwater-St Ives. It’s a classic summer lull where the points just don’t fire. Sometimes it’s like this, and you just have to wait for the next front to roll through. The forecasts can change, but for now, I’d leave the board in the shed.

Rusty.

Read more