30th Street/Ship Bottom Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s be real for a second. This forecast is a bummer. For the next week and a half, you can almost forget about it. From Tuesday the 25th through to the middle of next week, it’s all tiny, weak, and messy surf. We’re looking at ankle-biters around 1ft, with periods under 10 seconds. There’s a slight bump on the 1st of September with a longer period (15 seconds), but the energy is still weak and it’s coming with an onshore breeze that’s chopping it all up. The combined energy values are all low—in the teens, twenties, and fifties—nowhere near enough for any real push. You're better off staying on the beach.

The mornings do offer occasional clean conditions with a light offshore, like Friday the 28th, but the swell just isn't there. Then the wind goes onshore and it gets messier. The trend continues into next week—Monday and Tuesday are weak, and the longer period groundswell on the 1st is too weak and onshore to do anything with. Honestly, you'd need a miracle.

Then, finally, a change. From Thursday the 4th of September, we see a slight lift. It's still nothing special, but the south wind swings to a cross-offshore on Friday the 5th. The swell bumps up a bit to around 3ft, with a period around 11 seconds, coming from the ESE. The energy is starting to get some legs on it—130 on the Friday morning (moderate). It’s still small, but the conditions are cleaner. The offshore breeze will help keep the lines a bit more organised. It won't be pumping, but it might be rideable for someone on a longboard.

30th Street/Ship Bottom is your only real option in the whole window. It's a beginner-friendly beach break, but it's exposed, and it's also fairly consistent. But don't expect much. Crowds are possible when it's clean, but on these tiny waves, there won't be many takers. Also, this spot tends to be inconsistent, and that's the case here too. The water is a big story, though—on Tuesday the 25th, the water temperature is a warm 77°F, which is about 4°F above the long-term average for this time of year. That's a notable jump, much warmer than normal. With the air temps and light winds, it's a nice day for a swim, just not for surfing.

The setup is more interesting for a kite or a foil if that's your thing. The cross-shore winds and the small, lumpy swell will be more fun for those than for paddling.

So here's the plan: keep your board in the car for a while. The best bet is the morning of Friday the 5th of September, which is about a week and a half away. It's promising, but with this far-out forecast, don't book the day off work just yet. It's going to be small and marginal, but it's the only thing on offer that isn't a total waste of time.

Rusty.

Read more