The South Jetty Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you – this is a tough one. We're looking at the South Jetty for the next 16 days, and to be honest, the surf is going to be a real struggle. There's just no good energy on the cards.

The swell is small and weak, with the combined energy barely scraping into the "moderate" range at its best, hitting a high of only 117 on Tuesday the 4th, but that's paired with a poor cross-onshore wind. For the rest of the period, we're looking at anemic readings of 30 to 60, and often dropping into the teens. The swell period is a short, weak 6 to 9 seconds, so there's no power or shape to get excited about. The water is a touch warmer than normal at 77°, but that's the only bright spot.

The South Jetty is an exposed beach and jetty setup, so it needs a decent swell and clean wind to work. We're getting neither. The wind is a constant problem – mostly cross or cross-onshore, with a few fleeting moments of cross-offshore or glassy conditions. Those clean windows are around the 9th, 10th, 12th, and 13th of August, but unfortunately, the swell those days is tiny, from 1 ft to 3 ft. It's just not enough to push through.

Thursday, August 7th through to Monday, August 11th we have a stretch of poor surf quality with moderate winds chopping up the already weak 2 ft to 3 ft swell. The best-looking conditions for a clean surface are on Sunday, August 9th, Monday, August 10th, and Wednesday, August 12th, with cross-offshore breezes, but the swell is so small (2 ft to 3 ft) that it's really only a longboard or maybe a foamie session. The *only* standout window is Thursday afternoon, August 13th, where we get a glassy 2 ft SSE swell. It's tiny, but if you're desperate for a clean, flat-water paddle, that's your moment.

For the second week, from the 14th onwards, the energy drops even further. We see a brief 3 ft spike on the morning of the 14th, but it's gone by the afternoon. After that, it's mostly 1.0 ft to 1 ft junk. Realistically, with such poor surf quality, strong cross-shore winds, and a beach break setup, this spot is far more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The crowds are only "sometimes" an issue, but that's because nobody is going out.

There's a long gap of nothing good from the 14th all the way to the end of the 16-day window. So, save your energy and your wax. It's a flat spell, plain and simple.

- Rusty

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