Thousand Steps Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s coming our way for the next couple of weeks. Honestly, the opening stretch is a tough one. We’ve got a long gap with no real surf on offer. The first recommendation doesn’t kick in until the 7th of July.

Overall, the pattern is a drawn-out run of small, cross-onshore slop. It’s a frustrating start. The water is sitting at 67°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, so it’s not all bad news. But the waves? They’re just not cooperating.

The first real standout of the period, if you can call it that, is early on Tuesday the 7th of July. Thousand Steps is seeing a 3ft SSW groundswell rolling in, with a very long period of 18 seconds. The combined swell energy is moderate, sitting at (726). The wind is a light cross-onshore breeze, so it’s not blown out, but it’s not glassy. The catch here is that long-period swell like this, over 15 seconds, tends to break a bit too straight on beach breaks, but on a reef setup like Thousand Steps, it might just offer some decent shape. It’s marginal though, and the tide could be a factor. Expect crowds here sometimes.

We shuffle through a few days of similar small stuff. Morning sessions on the 8th and 9th of July offer the same 3ft SSW swell, but the wind stays cross-onshore, keeping things choppy. Thursday the 9th afternoon is a write-off.

Then, there’s a notable shift around the 12th of July. Sunday morning and afternoon seeing the wind finally swinging offshore from the SW. The swell is still small, 3ft from the SSW with a period of 14 seconds. The energy is weak (327). This is as close as we get to clean conditions in this stretch, but the surf quality is still marginal. The set-up looks more like a kite surfing session than a proper paddle day, given the poor quality.

The second week is quiet. The swell continues to fade. From the 14th of July onwards, we’re looking at waves around 2ft to 1ft, with periods dropping and the combined energy falling into the weak zone (183 down to 142). The wind does go offshore again on the 14th morning and the 16th morning, but there’s just no power in the water.

There’s a late pulse around the 18th of July, Saturday morning. The swell direction swings to the SSE, and we get a 2ft pulse with a period of 20 seconds – that’s very long period. Combined energy jumps back up to a moderate (673). The wind is a cross-shore from the SSE, which could create some interesting lines, but the morning session is only marginal. The afternoon gets messy again with a cross-onshore. This is promising, but for the 18th of July, it’s still a distant call.

Unfortunately, nothing in this forecast is a true standout. The best of a poor bunch would be the Tuesday 7th July morning window, or maybe the offshore wind windows on the 12th of July, but you’d be chasing small, marginal waves. It’s one of those slow runs. It tends not to stay poor for long, and forecasts can change. Keep an eye on that, but for now, we’re in a waiting game.

Rusty.

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