Tijuana Sloughs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let me level with you about the Tijuana Sloughs. This spot is the only game in town for this whole forecast window, and I gotta be honest, it's looking like a tough stretch for the next 16 days. The forecast is basically a long, flat spell with a few flickers of hope that never quite catch fire.

Right off the bat, from Sunday afternoon the 5th, we're looking at a big fat zero. The swell is a tiny 2 ft from the southwest, and while it's got a juicy 18-second period on it, the wind is a cross-onshore at 12 mph. That combo just chops it all up. The water is hovering around 68°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but you won't be enjoying it with conditions like that. The combined swell energy is moderate (490), but it doesn't matter when the wind is ruining the surface.

We drift through the first week with no real action. Monday the 6th and Tuesday the 7th see a little bump in energy, with the combined energy climbing into the high 800s, and the swell sitting around 3 ft from the southwest. The wind does turn light onshore at times, which is better, but the notes still call it marginal. On Wednesday the 8th, the wind goes light onshore, and the swell is a clean 3 ft from the SW/SSW. It's the best of a bad bunch in the first week, but I wouldn't paddle out expecting a classic. The period drops from 18 seconds down to 16, so the power is fading.

By Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th, the energy drops off a cliff. We're seeing poor surf conditions and combined energy numbers in the 400s. The wind is either cross-onshore or light onshore, and the swell has shrunk. It's a write-off.

Heading into the second week, there's a brief uptick. On Wednesday the 15th, a short-period (9 sec) WNW swell at 4 ft shows up, but it's a messy little windswell with marginal conditions. Then on Thursday the 16th, the swell height bumps up to 5 ft from the WNW, but the period is a weak 8 seconds. The combined energy is moderate (506), but for a river mouth like the Tijuana Sloughs, short-period windswell like that is going to be a mess of close-outs and whitewater. The wind is cross-onshore, so it won't be clean. This is really only for experienced surfers who don't mind a beatdown.

After that, it all fizzles out again. The last couple of days of the window, the 19th and 20th, see the swell drop back to 2 ft or 3 ft, with the period slipping back to a more respectable 15 or 16 seconds, but the energy is low (in the 400s and even 286 on the 20th). The wind stays light and onshore for most of it, which is the only saving grace.

Honestly, if you look at this 16-day run, the only day that even gets close to worth a look is Wednesday the 8th, when the light offshore wind and a 3 ft SW swell might give you a few clean, gutless waves at the Sloughs. But don't get your hopes up. This is a spot known for being inconsistent, and this forecast proves it. If you're a kiter, the wind setups on the choppier days might be more interesting than a paddle session. For the rest of us, it's a long dry spell.

Rusty.

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