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Surf Forecasts:

The Heads surfForecast / Garden Route / South Africa

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 7 am Tuesday 17 Mar 2026 SAST
Forecast update in hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
The Heads surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.
Today's The Heads sea temperature is
21.8° C
 (Which is slightly warmer than usual)

How big are the waves at The Heads today?

The current surf forecast for The Heads at 1PM is: 1.8m 11s primary swell from a South-southwest direction and 0.1m 10s secondary swell from a South direction, 0.5m 8s secondary swell from a East direction (forecast issued at 07:00am March 17). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-onshore.

Time (SAST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (17 Mar)5.5ft (1.7m)12s
Afternoon (17 Mar)6ft (1.8m)11s
Evening (17 Mar)6ft (1.8m)11s

Table - waves today at The Heads. (Swell directed towards the surf break)

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
16 DaysHourly
Print Table
Tuesday
17
Wednesday
18
Thursday
19
Fri
20
5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PM11 PM2 AM5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PM11 PM2 AM5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PM11 PM2 AM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
1
0
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
0
0
2
2
3
2
4
3
2
3
3
3
2
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.6
SSW
1.7
SSW
1.7
SSW
1.8
SSW
1.8
SSW
1.8
S
1.3
SSW
1.3
SSW
1.3
SSW
1.3
SSW
1.2
SW
1.1
SW
1.7
SSE
1.4
SSW
1.5
SSW
1.6
SSW
1.7
SSW
2
SSW
2.1
SSW
2.1
SSW
2.1
SSW
2
SSW
2
SSW
1.9
SSW
Period(s) (?)12121111111111111111101081313131314141414141413
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)6897637247857457763963893893823162763046497117999951428161015641610151314911224
Wind
(km/h)
10
E
10
E
15
SSE
20
SE
10
ESE
10
E
5
W
10
SW
5
W
5
WNW
10
SW
15
SSE
20
SE
15
ESE
15
E
10
E
10
E
10
ENE
10
ESE
10
SE
15
ENE
5
ESE
15
WNW
20
W
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
crosscrosscross-
on		cross-
on		cross-
on		crosscrosscross-
on		crossglasscross-
on		oncross-
on		crosscrosscrosscrosscross-
off		cross-
on		cross-
on		cross-
off		crosscross-
off		cross
High Tide
/ height (m)
2:50AM
1.72
3:02PM
1.70
3:19AM
1.87
3:33PM
1.79
3:48AM
1.97
4:04PM
1.83
Low Tide
/ height (m)
9:00AM
0.16
9:07PM
0.07
9:30AM
0.03
9:36PM
-0.02
10:01AM
-0.05
10:06PM
-0.05
Tuesday
17
Wednesday
18
Thursday
19
Fri
20
Sunrise-6:28-------6:28-------6:28------
Sunset----6:43-------6:42-------6:40---
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
cloud
light rain
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
thunderstorm
thunderstorm
light rain
part cloud
cloud
cloud
clear
part cloud
cloud
light rain
cloud
thunderstorm
cloud
Rain (mm)
----1------321------1-1-
Temp. °C202124232121212120212322202020201921272823222120
Feels °C (?)222325232323242322242522202121212022282923242119
  • Map Icons:
  • Break
  • Live Wave Height (m)
  • Live Wind Speed (km/h)
  • Surf Rating (10 Max)
  • Ocean Swells (m)
  • Wind Speed (km/h)
Map placeholder

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FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website

The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our The Heads surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.

View detailed surf forecast for The Heads at:
surf-forecast.com

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