Tower Road Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get real about the surf at Tower Road for the next couple of weeks. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it – this stretch is looking pretty grim for a while. We’ve got a long, dry spell with hardly any energy worth paddling for, so don’t be in a rush to wax up.

The outlook starts with a big fat gap. From now through to the early hours of Saturday the 25th of July, it’s basically a no-go. The beginning of the period is lifeless – tiny 0.7ft to 1ft ESE swell with periods around 5 to 8 seconds, and the combined energy is barely a whisper (10 to 9). The water temp is 76°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s about the only exciting thing. The wind is messy, sometimes cross-off, cross-on, and onshore, with a couple of glassy moments but no wave to ride. Saturday the 18th sees a bit of a bump in swell energy (11) but the period drops to 3 seconds – absolute junk. We then roll through a solid week of nothing. The 19th through the 24th are all showing poor surf conditions with weak, short-period swell and fresh winds. The 23rd of July brings a peak of 4ft from the ENE, but it’s strong onshore NE wind and the period is short (5-6 seconds), so it’s just a messy, blown-out wall. Don’t even think about it.

Finally, on the morning of Saturday the 25th of July, we get a tiny window. The wind goes glassy from the SW, and the swell bumps up to 5ft from the ESE with a period of only 5 seconds. The combined energy is 98 – so it’s weak, but it’s the best we’ve seen. The wave comment says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” and honestly, I’d give it a miss unless you’re desperate. The water is still that same 76° – a touch warmer than normal. The afternoon gets messy again with a cross-shore wind, so that morning glass is your only hope.

Beyond that, the 26th of July morning has a clean 2ft from the ESE with a gentle cross-off breeze, but it’s tiny. The rest of the second week drifts back into weak, short-period swell and mostly onshore or cross-shore winds. The 31st of July morning looks clean with a light offshore from the WSW on 2ft, and the afternoon goes glassy, but the swell is just too small to get excited about.

Look, Tower Road is a sandbar setup, exposed to ENE swell, but the angles coming through are all wrong for this break. The optimum swell direction is east-northeast, and we’re getting mostly ESE and SSE slop. It’s no surprise it’s flat. For the whole 16 days, the only real standout – if you can call it that – is the early glass on Saturday the 25th of July. That’s the closest we get to a wave, but it’s still poor. If you’re into kite surfing, the afternoon of the 25th with 5ft SE and a strong cross-shore might be more interesting, but for a paddle surfer, it’s a tough stretch.

– Rusty

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