Tijuana Sloughs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s talk about what’s on offer for the Tijuana Sloughs stretch. I’m looking at a pretty quiet 16-day window overall. There’s a solid run of small, clean surf coming in the second half of next week and into the following weekend, but don’t expect to be threading the needle on anything big.

The whole period starts off quiet, with very marginal surf through to about Wednesday the 16th of September. The swell is weak and the cross-onshore wind, though light, is putting a chop on things. From Thursday the 17th into the following week, we get a consistent stretch of small groundswell. The combined swell energy sits mostly between 480 and 762 (moderate), which tells you there’s some push but nothing that’ll have you hooting from the car park. The standout window here is Tijuana Sloughs (Baja California) – it’s the only spot in play. On Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th of September, we see clean, onshore wind (W at 6 mph to 9 mph) with a 3 ft to 3 ft swell from the SW, but with a long 18-second period. That kind of period is a groundswell and it can break a bit straight on a river mouth setup like the Sloughs, but the light wind will keep the surface glassy. You’ll get proper shaped waves if you pick your bank, but it won’t be big. The crowd situation? It’s sometimes busy here, so expect a few locals on the better peaks. The water is about 73°F and that’s a solid 5°F warmer than usual for this time of year – feels like a warm bath, so a spring suit or even a shorty will do.

Moving into the second week, from the 22nd of September onward, the swell ticks down a touch but the wind stays favourable – mostly light onshore or cross-onshore from the W and WNW. The surf stays in the 3 ft to 4 ft range with the period slowly dropping from 16s down to 13s by the 26th. The energy holds at moderate (467 to 591) so the waves will have some shape but nothing to write home about. It’s a long run of small, clean conditions that are perfect for a longboard or a funboard – just don’t expect the Sloughs to be firing at full power.

For the last few days, from the 27th of September to the 29th, the swell gets smaller and the wind stays light but turns cross-on from the WNW and NW. The period stays fairly long (15–18 seconds) but the height drops to 2 ft–2 ft. This is a session for the die-hards only. If you’re a beginner, anything over 5 ft can be a handful, but here it’s all below that – so if you’re learning, the clean mornings are your best bet. Overall, nothing here is a standout for experts, but if you want to get wet in small, clean conditions with warm water, the second half of next week is your window.

Rusty.

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