30th Street/Ship Bottom Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s break down the next 16 days for your local sandbar.

Honestly, I gotta be straight with you – the outlook is a bit of a struggle. There’s a long stretch of tiny, weak, or messy conditions to get through before we see anything worth paddling out for. The first real shot at something rideable doesn't show up until Thursday, September 10th, and even then, it’s nothing to write home about.

We start off with a total flat spell. Tuesday the 8th and Wednesday the 9th are a write-off – we’re talking ankle-snappers at 0.7 ft to 0.3 ft with very weak energy (9). The water is a balmy 76°, which is a full 5° warmer than usual for this time of year, so it’s a pleasant swim, but not a surf. You’ll want to save the wax for another day.

Thursday the 10th morning finally sees a pulse of swell, but it’s a messy one. A 3 ft swell from the SSW with a short, weak period of 6 seconds. The wind is offshore from the WSW, which is a saving grace, but the wave energy is still low (99). We get a "surfable" rating, but it’s ordinary. The afternoon drops off to 2 ft. This is the best we’ve got for the first week, but it’s still a pretty average day.

Friday through Sunday, the 11th to 13th, get swallowed by onshore winds from the SE and some cross-on conditions, making the tiny swell (1.0 ft to 2 ft) choppy and unappealing. The energy is moderate for a moment on Sunday morning (124), but the wind ruins it.

Moving into the second week, Monday the 14th morning offers a brief respite with a cross-off breeze and a clean 2 ft wave from the ESE, but it’s still knee-high. The real standout, such as it is, arrives on Sunday, September 20th. The morning is glassy – a big positive – and the swell hits a seasonable 4 ft from the SSW. The energy is moderate (161), making it the most powerful push of the whole forecast. It’s still a short-period (6s) swell, so it won’t have much grunt, but with glassy conditions, it’ll be the cleanest and most fun wave of the bunch. It’s a beginner-friendly size, too.

The rest of the run is a mix of tiny, weak, and wind-affected slop. The final week has some long-period (12-13s) groundswell pulses, but they are tiny (0.7 ft to 1.0 ft) and won’t break properly on a beach like this. The setup here is a fairly consistent beach break, but the crowds are possible on the better days.

So, to sum it up: the best bet is the glassy morning of Sunday, September 20th. It’s your only real window for a clean, surfable wave. Everything else is a flat spell or a wind-swept mess. Even then, it’s a long-range call, so keep an eye on it.

Rusty.

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