The Cove Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a long look at what Mother Nature’s got cooking for us.

First off, it’s a tough stretch ahead. We’ve got a 16-day window, but don’t get excited too early. There’s a real dry spell at the beginning with a solid block of days offering nothing you’d wanna paddle out for. From Wednesday the 15th all the way through to late on Saturday the 25th of July, it’s mostly poor surf conditions and choppy, messy wind. You’re looking at a gap of about ten days there where the call is simply to leave the board in the car.

The only real glimmer in this whole long-range picture is a couple of sessions on offer at The Cove. This is a reef setup, exposed to the NW swell, and it’s fairly consistent when the conditions line up. The water temp is sitting around 55°F, which is about normal for the time of year with a negligible anomaly.

The standout moment – and I mean the *only* one worth circling on the calendar – is the morning of Sunday, the 26th of July. We’ve got a glassy forecast, which is a huge positive. The swell is coming from the WNW at 4 ft with a period of 9 seconds. The wind is set to be glassy (3 mph from the WSW) which means the surface will be silky smooth. The combined wave energy is at 310 (moderate). That’s your window. It’s still a week and a half out, so treat it as a promising look, not a guarantee, but it’s the best on offer by a country mile. For a reef break like The Cove, that period and direction should line up nicely for some clean, rideable walls. The Sunday afternoon session isn’t bad, but the cross-on wind comes up a bit, so stick to the morning.

Earlier in the week, on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th, the swell actually jumps up – we’re seeing 7 ft to 7 ft from the WNW (combined energy hitting 665 to 902 – strong). That’s proper size, but the conditions are described as marginal and the winds are cross-off at 15 to 25 mph. For a reef, that's a bit gnarly and mostly for the experienced crew who know the lineup. The rest of the time, the wind is a mess of cross-onshore and choppy conditions with weak, short-period swell. A lot of that 5 ft to 6 ft stuff on the 22nd and 23rd looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddling, given the strong cross-shore breeze and messy, lumpy water.

Basically, Rusty’s call is: sit tight for ten days, keep an eye on the morning of the 26th of July, and if you’re a confident surfer, maybe the Friday the 24th morning could be a heavy, challenging session. Otherwise, the forecast is a slow burn this time around.

Rusty.

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