30th Street/Ship Bottom Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get right into it for the only spot on the radar this forecast period.

Straight up, 30th Street/Ship Bottom is looking at a pretty grim run over the next couple of weeks. The swell is tiny and weak most of the time, with combined energy often in the double digits (47, 52, 37, 44) — that’s barely a ripple. The wind is mostly cross-off, which is okay for keeping the surface clean, but there just isn’t enough push to get excited about.

We start off Thursday 6th August with a minimal 3 ft of swell from the SSE, but it’s short period at 6 seconds. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing unusual there. The whole first week is a slog. Friday 7th, Saturday 8th, Sunday 9th all have a similar story: tiny waves, poor energy, and the surf quality is poor. The best you can hope for is a knee-high slop on Sunday morning with a 2 ft SSE swell and a gentle breeze, but it’s still a very ordinary session.

There is a brief moment of interest on Tuesday 11th August morning. The wind goes glassy from the NW, making it smooth as butter, but the swell is still only 2 ft and the combined energy is just 34. It’s a clean, small wave for a longboard if you’re desperate.

The rest of the week into the weekend is a write-off. Swell heights drop below 2 ft regularly. We get a few glassy mornings on the 14th, 15th, and 16th, but the wave energy is pathetic (10 to 20 range). It’s a flat spell, plain and simple.

Now, the standout in this otherwise bleak 16-day window shows up on Wednesday 19th August. The morning brings a 5 ft S swell with a combined energy of 320 — that’s a punch of moderate wave energy finally. The wind is a clean cross-off from the NNW (12 mph), which will keep it lined up. The period is 7 seconds, so it’s a bit short, but this is the biggest push of the whole period. However, at 5 ft, it’s getting into the range that might be a bit much for beginners. For the experienced surfer, this is the one session to target, but it’s a long way out, so take it with a grain of salt.

The day after, Thursday 20th, has some size (4 ft) but gets chopped up by onshore winds. The run ends on Friday 21st with a weak, crummy 3 ft swell from the ENE and a strong cross-onshore wind.

The bottom line: There’s a very long gap of flat or near-flat conditions from the start until that one morning on 19th August. If you’re a beginner, that 5 ft on the 19th might be a bit big, and the rest is too small. For the more experienced crew, mark your calendar for the 19th, but don’t hold your breath. It’s a tough stretch.

Rusty.

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