The Heads Surf Forecast

/ Garden Route (22 surf breaks) /

South Africa (276 surf breaks) / Lat Long: (34.07° S 23.06° E)

Surf Forecasts:

The Heads surfForecast / Garden Route / South Africa

48hr Weather and Surf, issued 1 pm Monday 18 May 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 17.4° C
(Which is 1.4°C colder than average for this time of year)

How big are the waves at The Heads today?

The current surf forecast for The Heads at 4PM is: 1.3m 14s primary swell from a Southwest direction and 0.7m 12s secondary swell from a South direction, 1.0m 5s secondary swell from a Southeast direction (forecast issued at 01:00pm May 18). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-shore.

Time (SAST) & Date	Wave Height	Wave Period
Morning (18 May)	4ft (1.2m)	13s
Afternoon (18 May)	4ft (1.2m)	14s
Evening (18 May)	5ft (1.5m)	14s

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

Updates in hr min s Forecast update imminent

	Short Range Forecast Light rain (total 2mm), mostly falling on Wed morning. Warm (max 22°C on Wed afternoon, min 16°C on Wed night). Wind will be generally light.
	Mon 18					Tuesday 19								Wednesday 20								Thu 21
	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	2 AM	5 AM	8 AM
Rating (10 max)	1	0	1	1	2	2	3	3	1	1	1	1	2	2	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	4
Swell Height Map See all maps
Wave Height (m) Direction Period (s)	SW 13	SW 13	SW 15	SW 14	SW 14	SW 13	SW 13	SSE 8	SE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	E 8
Wave Graph
kJ	503	458	757	813	790	553	504	430	477	865	1008	1052	1040	910	733	612	657	867	897	984	956	824	763	1031
Wind (km/h)	ESE	ESE	ESE	ESE	ESE	E	ENE	ENE	E	ESE	E	E	E	E	ENE	E	E	E	E	ENE	ENE	NE	ENE	NE
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy	cross	cross-on	cross	cross	cross	cross	cross-off	cross-off	cross	cross	cross	cross	cross	cross-off	cross-off	cross	cross	cross	cross	cross-off	cross-off	cross-off	cross-off	cross-off
High Tide			4:48PM1.71m					5:04AM1.77m				5:35PM1.65m				5:52AM1.63m				6:26PM1.56m				6:44AM1.47m
Low Tide	10:38AM0.02m				10:53PM0.15m					11:22AM0.11m				11:42PM0.25m				12:10PM0.22m				00:38AM0.37m


	—	—	—	—	—	—	7:15	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7:16	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7:16	—
	—	—	5:32	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5:31	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5:30	—	—	—	—	5:30
mm	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
Temp °C	19	20	18	18	17	17	17	17	20	20	18	17	17	17	17	17	20	22	20	19	18	16	16	17
Feels °C	19	19	16	16	17	16	16	17	18	17	15	14	14	15	16	16	18	19	18	18	17	15	15	15
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s)	SW 13	SW 13	SW 15	SW 14	SW 14	S 8	S 8	SSE 8	SW 12	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 13	SW 12	SW 12	SW 12	WSW 12	SW 12	SW 12	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8
kJ	503	458	757	813	790	273	316	372	386	380	330	282	202	235	231	187	120	116	94	69	68	824	763	699
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s)	S 12	S 13	S 12	S 12	S 12	SW 13	SW 13	SW 12	SSE 14	SSE 14	SSE 13	SSE 13	SSE 13	SSE 13	SSE 12	SSE 12	SSE 12	SSE 12	SSE 12	SSW 15	SSW 15	SSW 14	SSW 14	SSW 14
kJ	132	202	139	101	70	553	504	430	81	74	102	116	111	106	104	133	96	58	56	43	84	80	78	121
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s)	ESE 6	SSW 16	S 18	S 17	SE 16	SSE 11	SSE 16	SSE 15	SSE 14	—	—	—	SSW 10	SSW 9	SSE 12	SSW 9	SSW 9	SSW 9	SSW 16	SSE 12	SSW 9	SW 11	SW 11	SW 11
kJ	14	149	6	6	10	41	48	44	79	—	—	—	18	28	136	16	16	16	47	14	8	32	31	19
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s)	SE 4	SE 5	SE 5	SE 6	SE 6	E 5	E 5	E 6	SE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	ESE 8	—	—	E 8
kJ	16	23	64	110	143	70	42	100	477	865	1008	1052	1040	910	733	612	657	867	897	984	956	—	—	1031
Nearest Offshore or Glassy	The Heads Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	Buffalo Bay Wildside Garden Route	Humewood Eastern Cape (S)	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Buffalo Bay Wildside Garden Route	Buffalo Bay Wildside Garden Route	Buffalo Bay Wildside Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route	Fish Boma Garden Route	Koeel Bay Overberg	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Fish Boma Garden Route	The Heads Garden Route
Rating (10 max)	3	2	3	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	3
Distance (km)	0	0	8	239	26	26	8	8	8	0	11	390	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	11	0
Best forecast wave conditions in Garden Route	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point		Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Fish Boma		Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point	Gerickes Point
Rating (10 max)	3	3	3		3	3	3	3	3	3	4		4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	4
Best forecast wave conditions in South Africa	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Strandfontein West Coast	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Haga-Haga Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Haga-Haga Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Haga-Haga Eastern Cape - Wild Coast	Fish Boma Garden Route	Koeel Bay Overberg	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route	Gerickes Point Garden Route
Rating (10 max)	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	4
Header Global	Barrancon Chile	Fullers United States	Ghost Tree United States	Avalon-North Australia	Bali Village Indonesia	San Jorge - Faja dos Cubres Portugal	San Jorge - Faja dos Cubres Portugal	Back Bommie Australia	Benkunqut Indonesia	Black Rock Australia	Bankvaults Indonesia	Bankvaults Indonesia	Bali Village Indonesia	Bali Village Indonesia	Bali Village Indonesia	Bali Village Indonesia	Cavalos de Fao Portugal	The Reef Portugal	Achadas Da Cruz Portugal	Canal Brazil	Trial Harbour Australia	Trial Harbour Australia	Trial Harbour Australia	Trial Harbour Australia
Rating (10 max)	4	6	5	4	4	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	4	5	5	5	5	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

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The Heads Surf Forecast

The Heads surfForecast / Garden Route / South Africa

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