12th Street Jetty Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on offer for the next couple of weeks.

To be straight with you, the outlook for 12th Street Jetty is a lean one. The forecast shows a long stretch of tiny, weak swell with hardly any energy behind it. The first solid sign of anything remotely rideable doesn't show up until Thursday, the 17th of September, and even then it's just barely surfable. So we're looking at a gap of about two weeks of flat to near-flat conditions before we get a glimmer of hope.

The water is sitting at 77° currently, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, so at least the wait won't be a cold one.

Alright, let's run through the details.

For the first week and a half, it's a write-off. Swell heights are mostly below 2 feet with periods under 10 seconds, and the combined wave energy barely cracks double digits, all sitting below 100 (94 is the highest we see in the first week). The wind is a mixed bag of cross and cross-off, but the swell just isn't there to make anything of it. There's a glassy afternoon on Saturday the 5th with a 0.6ft swell, but it's barely a ripple.

We get a bit of a bump in size on Sunday the 6th with a 3ft easterly swell, but it's a short period (7 seconds) and the wind is a moderate cross-shore creating chop. The energy is still weak (97). Not worth paddling out for.

The pattern continues with tiny, weak swells and poor conditions right through until the 16th of September. The wind finally goes clean offshore on the morning of the 11th, but the swell is still a pathetic 0.6ft.

Finally, on Thursday the 17th of September, we get a slight pulse. The morning brings a 2ft swell from the ESE with a 7-second period and clean offshore winds from the NNW. The combined energy is still low (72), but it's the first time the conditions are actually described as "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions." The afternoon cleans up even more with a light cross-off breeze and a 3ft swell, with the energy bumping up to (92). It's not going to be epic, but for a beach/jetty setup, it's at least something to get wet on. The swell direction is SE, which is a fair match for the jetty's optimum NE direction, but it's close enough to work.

If you're desperate for a paddle, Thursday the 17th is your only real window. It's clean, small, and offers a tiny bit of wave. The rest of the run is a flat spell.

Rusty.

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