Thurso East Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into it.

Well, I’ll be straight with you – this is a tough one. The whole 16-day window looks pretty grim for a proper surf. There’s surf on offer, but the conditions are just not playing ball. We’ve got a long stretch of onshore and cross-onshore winds that are going to chop things up, so don’t get your hopes up for anything clean.

The action, if you can call it that, is all at Thurso East, a heavy expert point break that needs a solid NW to NNW groundswell to light up. Right now, the water’s sitting at about 55°F, which is bang on average for the time of year, so no surprises there.

We start off Wednesday morning, 15th July, with a tiny 2ft swell from the west, but the wind is actually offshore from the SE. It’s weak though – combined energy is only 71 – so it’s surfable but very ordinary. The afternoon drops off to 2ft and the magic is gone.

Then we hit a real dry spell. From Thursday the 16th right through to Tuesday the 21st, it’s a mess. Onshore winds from the NW and WNW just hammer the place. Swell heights bounce between 1ft and 4ft, but the wind state is either “unknown” or cross-onshore and choppy. It’s a write-off for a point break like Thurso East. The combined energy does climb to 201 on Monday the 20th, but with onshore winds, it’s just not worth paddling out.

Wednesday the 22nd sees the swell jump up to 7ft from the WNW, with a combined energy of 384 – that’s a solid push. But the wind is a fresh cross-onshore at 22 mph, making it lumpy. This is expert-only territory, and even then, it’s going to be a battle. The next day, Thursday the 23rd, the wind howls at 25 mph and the swell drops back. That’s kite-surfing weather, not paddle surfing.

Friday the 24th through to Sunday the 27th is the biggest pulse of the period. Friday morning has 8ft of WNW swell and a combined energy of 549 – that’s proper power. But the wind is onshore from the NW at 19 mph. Saturday the 25th is still big at 6ft but cross-onshore. These are expert-only, heavy, and messy conditions. The swell direction is WNW, which is off the optimum for Thurso East (NNW), so the waves won’t be peeling as well as they could.

The last few days, from Monday the 28th to Thursday the 30th, it all fades back to tiny, weak surf with 1ft to 2ft and combined energy as low as 12. The wind finally goes light and clean on the 30th, but there’s no swell to ride.

Honestly, there’s no standout session here. The best on offer is probably the early morning of Wednesday 15th July for the clean offshore wind, but the swell is tiny. If you’re an expert and you’re desperate, the big, messy swells on the 22nd and 24th might give you a few heavy, bumpy drops, but don’t expect any quality. For the rest of us, it’s a long wait.

Keep your eyes on the forecasts; things can change. But right now, it’s a lean run.

Rusty.

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