Thurso Reef Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking for Thurso Reef.

Well, I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough one. Looking at the whole 16-day window, it’s a real struggle. There’s a long stretch of poor conditions right from the start. For the first week, we’re looking at a lot of messy, choppy surf with cross and cross-onshore winds that just won’t clean up. The swell is there, but it’s all wind-affected and not worth paddling out for. The water temp is sitting at 57°, which is pretty much normal for this time of year, so no surprises there.

The real kicker is that nothing really gets good. The best we can hope for is a slight uptick around Monday the 24th through Tuesday the 25th. On Monday afternoon, we get a bit of a WNW swell hitting 3ft, and for the first time we see clean conditions with a cross-offshore breeze from the SE. The combined energy is moderate (211), and the period stretches to 11 seconds, so there’s a bit of groundswell push behind it. That’s the closest thing to a highlight. The break itself is a reef, so it’ll handle that long-period energy better than a beach break might. But the surf is still marginal at best, and the swell is tiny.

There’s a small window of clean conditions on the 25th and 26th, but the swell drops right off to 2ft – not enough to get excited about. After that, it’s back to tiny, weak waves. There’s a long gap of poor or non-existent surf, and even the end of the forecast period into September still looks flat and weak. If you’re a kite surfer, the strong cross-offshore winds on the 25th might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer, there’s just nothing to get your heart racing.

So, honestly, my pick for the best on offer is that Monday the 24th afternoon. It’s a marginal call, but it’s the cleanest and biggest we’ll see. The wind is clean, the swell is from the WNW at 3ft, and it’s a reef setup. It’s not a standout in any normal sense, but it’s the only light in the tunnel.

Rusty.

Read more