The Breakwater-St Ives Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, let’s have a look at what’s on offer for the next couple of weeks. To be honest, it’s a pretty grim picture for the whole period. We’re looking at a long stretch of flat, blown-out, or just plain messy conditions right through until the end of August, with nothing that I’d call a proper surf window.

The only break in the running is The Breakwater-St Ives (United Kingdom). It’s a point break that’s inconsistent, and it only ever works on a northwest swell. The water temperature is sitting at 65°F, which is a touch warmer than usual for this time of year.

We start off this Sunday the 9th with tiny 1ft waves from the WNW, but a strong 12 mph cross-on wind has it all chopped up and ugly. That theme just keeps rolling. Monday the 10th and Tuesday the 11th are flat, with ankle-snappers and terrible wind. Through the middle of the week, we see a small bump to maybe 3ft to 4ft from the west, but the wind is constantly onshore or cross-onshore, and the combined swell energy only gets into the low hundreds (167 on Wednesday morning, 330 on Thursday morning). It’s a lot of wash for nothing.

The weekend of the 15th and 16th is a write-off – fresh onshore breezes up to 22 mph and messy, lumpy surf. There’s a brief tease around Tuesday the 18th morning with a 5ft west swell and very light winds, which sounds okay, but it’s a short-period 7-second windswell (combined energy of 279), and the forecast still calls it marginal. The wind swings cross-on by the afternoon, killing it. Wednesday the 19th morning shows another 5ft swell from the north, but again, short period at 6 seconds and a score of just 1 out of 10.

After that, from the 20th through to the 24th, it’s just more of the same. Small, weak, and blown out. We get a couple of 1.0ft swells from the SW on Sunday the 23rd, but they have a long 14-second period – that’s groundswell, but it’s barely enough energy to stand up in, and the wind is cross-onshore anyway.

Honestly, there are zero standout days here. It’s a long, dry 16-day run. For this area, a blank spell like this isn’t that unusual, but it doesn’t mean it stays poor forever – forecasts can shift. As it stands, with the consistent onshore winds and small swell, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. Don’t hold your breath.

Rusty

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