The Heads 48 hour detailed Surf Forecast

Lat Long: 34.07° S 23.06° E

Issued: 1 pm 21 Jul 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in hr min

Today's The Heads sea temperature is

17.6° C

The Heads surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.

Surf Forecasts:

How big are the waves at The Heads today (21 Jul):

Morning surf: Morning surf (21 Jul, local time) - 5ft (1.5m), 15s period with SSW swell.
Afternoon surf: Afternoon surf (21 Jul, local time) - 8ft (2.5m), 14s period with SSW swell.
Evening surf: Evening surf (21 Jul, local time) - 8ft (2.5m), 13s period with SW swell.

The current surf forecast for The Heads at 4PM is: 2.5m 14s primary swell from a South-southwest direction and 1.1m 10s secondary swell from a East-southeast direction (forecast issued at 01:00pm July 21). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-onshore.

Time (SAST) & Date	Wave Height	Wave Period
Morning (21 Jul)	5ft (1.5m)	15s
Afternoon (21 Jul)	8ft (2.5m)	14s
Evening (21 Jul)	8ft (2.5m)	13s

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

	Short Range Forecast Light rain (total 6mm), mostly falling on Thu night. Very mild (max 18°C on Thu afternoon, min 12°C on Tue night). Wind will be generally light.
	Tue 21					Wednesday 22								Thursday 23
	11 AM	2 PM	5 PM	8 PM	11 PM	2 AM	5 AM	8 AM	11 AM	2 PM	5 PM	8 PM	11 PM	2 AM	5 AM	8 AM	11 AM	2 PM	5 PM	8 PM	11 PM
Rating (10 max)	4	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	0	0	1	3
Swell Height Map See all maps
Wave Height (m) Direction Period (s)	SSW 14	SSW 14	SSW 14	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SSW 13	SSW 12	SW 12	SW 11	SW 12	SW 11	SW 11	SW 11	SW 12
Wave Graph
kJ	1447	2280	2503	2459	2103	1942	1558	1363	1240	1276	1200	1111	617	519	471	814	1121	1452	2055	1749	2346
Wind (km/h)	SW	S	SE	NE	NE	NE	N	WNW	WSW	WSW	WSW	WSW	W	NW	NW	N	W	SW	WSW	WSW	WSW
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy	glassy	on	cross-on	cross-off	cross-off	cross-off	off	cross-off	cross	cross-on	cross	cross	cross	cross-off	cross-off	off	cross	cross-on	cross-on	cross-on	cross-on
High Tide	8:12AM1.21m				8:44PM1.33m				9:14AM1.10m				9:54PM1.22m				10:58AM1.05m
Low Tide			2:10PM0.55m				3:12AM0.63m				3:07PM0.67m				4:36AM0.69m				4:43PM0.75m


	—	—	—	—	—	—	7:26	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7:26	—	—	—	—	—	—
	—	—	5:39	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5:39	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5:40	—	—
mm	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	3	2
Temp °C	16	17	15	13	12	12	12	12	16	16	15	13	14	13	12	12	17	18	15	14	14
Feels °C	16	15	14	12	11	10	10	9	14	14	14	12	13	12	11	10	15	13	11	12	11
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s)	SSW 14	SSW 14	SSW 14	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	SSW 12	SW 12	SW 11	SW 12	SE 12	SW 11	SW 11	SW 12
kJ	1447	2280	2503	2459	2103	1942	1558	1363	1240	1276	1200	1111	561	519	471	814	1121	144	2055	1749	1903
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s)	ESE 11	ESE 10	ESE 10	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 11	ESE 13	SSW 13	SW 12	SSW 12	ESE 12	ESE 12	E 7	ESE 12	ESE 12	SSW 18
kJ	359	294	270	234	218	222	226	186	186	186	190	209	617	486	349	127	127	10	125	94	1039
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s)	S 6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	ESE 4	SSW 15	S 15	SSW 14	ESE 13	ESE 12	ESE 12	SW 12	—	—	S 21	SSW 20	ESE 12
kJ	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	121	110	207	209	175	167	37	—	—	9	128	93
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	W 3	WSW 4	WSW 4	—	—	—	—	—	—	SW 11	—	—	SW 12
kJ	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4	16	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1452	—	—	2346
Nearest Offshore or Glassy	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	Murphys (Buffalo Bay Beach) Garden Route	The Wreck Garden Route	Murphys (Buffalo Bay Beach) Garden Route	Murphys (Buffalo Bay Beach) Garden Route	Murphys (Buffalo Bay Beach) Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	Buffalo Bay Garden Route	Brak River Garden Route
Rating (10 max)	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	5	4
Distance (km)	0	0	0	26	26	0	0	0	0	0	7	30	7	7	7	0	0	0	0	8	85
Best forecast wave conditions in Garden Route	Goukamma River Mouth	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Goukamma River Mouth	Goukamma River Mouth	Brak River	Santos Reef	Brak River	Brak River	Gerickes Point	Goukamma River Mouth	Goukamma River Mouth	Gerickes Point	Goukamma River Mouth	Buffalo Bay	Brak River
Rating (10 max)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4
Best forecast wave conditions in South Africa	Goukamma River Mouth Garden Route	Haga-Haga Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Haga-Haga Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Hout Bay Cape Town	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Periwinkles Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Periwinkles Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Periwinkles Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Periwinkles Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Periwinkles Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Doring Bay West Coast	Kleinemonde Eastern Cape (S)	Haga-Haga Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Riet River Eastern Cape (S)	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Goukamma River Mouth Garden Route	Goukamma River Mouth Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Goukamma River Mouth Garden Route	Buffalo Bay Garden Route	Hout Bay Cape Town
Rating (10 max)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4
Header Global	Papatowai New Zealand	Papatowai New Zealand	Asu Indonesia	Cape St Martin South Africa	Chameau Mauritius	Sea Vista South Africa	Cobblestones Australia	Cobblestones Australia	Cobblestones Australia	Cobblestones Australia	Cobblestones Australia	Gas Bay Australia	Papa Tangaroa Chile	Viri Inga O Tuki Chile	Cathedral Rock Australia	Cobblestones Australia	Boulders Samoa	Cyclops Australia	Brak River South Africa	Benkunqut Indonesia	The Hoek South Africa
Rating (10 max)	5	5	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	5	5	8	7	9	5	4	5	4	4	5

Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)
Wind Speed (km/h)

Latest Updates

Ben Mondy

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.

The Heads 48 hour detailed Surf Forecast

How big are the waves at The Heads today (21 Jul):

Short Range Forecast

Latest Updates

Summer School: The Timeline of The Boardshort

How Our WaveFinder Tool Makes Forecasting Easier Than Ever Before

The Five Best Forecasts For International Surfing Day 2026

Best Surf Travel Deals & Discounts For 2026 To Help Make Surf Travel Cheaper

Let Our Surf Alerts Do All Your Forecast Heavy Lifting

FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website