Tybee Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a proper look at what’s coming in for our local stretch. I’ve gotta be straight with you right from the start – it’s been a tough run and it’s going to stay that way for a fair while. We’re staring down a long, quiet stretch with no real surf to get excited about, but I’ll walk you through exactly what’s happening day by day.

The whole 16-day window is looking pretty flat and featureless. We’ve got weak, short-period swell barely registering on the energy scale – mostly under 100 for combined swell energy (a paltry 24 is the best early on), which means there’s just no power in the water. For the first week, from Monday 10th right through to Sunday 16th August, every session is scored as poor. The swell hovers around 0.7ft to 1ft, with a few afternoons bumping up to 2ft or 3ft, but it’s all short-period slop from the SE or S. Winds are a mixed bag – a few clean mornings with light offshore or cross-off breezes, but the afternoons get chopped up by moderate onshore winds. You’d be better off leaving the board in the car.

There’s a notable gap from about Monday 17th evening right through to Thursday 20th morning. On Tuesday 18th morning, we finally get a tiny pulse of 0.7ft groundswell from the ESE with a long period of 16 seconds, and combined energy reaches 48 – still weak, but there’s a bit of quality in that long-period energy. Conditions are glassy and clean for that Tuesday morning window. The swell is tiny though. It’s a rare moment of “surfable but very ordinary,” but honestly, at 0.7ft, it’s barely a ripple. By Thursday 20th morning, we get another brief lull with glassy conditions and a 1ft ESE groundswell at 11 seconds (combined energy 59). That’s probably the best of the whole run, but again, it’s knee-high at best.

If I had to pick a standout in all this – and I’m scraping the barrel here – it would be Thursday 20th August morning at Tybee Pier. The swell direction is ESE, right in the optimum E zone, with a clean glassy surface. The water temp is about average for mid-August, nothing unusual. Crowds are possible here at times, but with surf this small, you might have it to yourself. It’s the only real window where the conditions line up for a clean, if tiny, wave.

Heading into the second week, there’s no change. From Friday 21st through to Tuesday 25th August, we’ve got more short-period windswell and onshore winds keeping things messy. There’s a slight bump on Friday 21st afternoon up to 4ft from the E (combined energy 74), but it’s short-period and onshore – sloppy and blown out. Saturday 22nd morning has 3ft from the ENE (combined energy 87), but again, onshore wind ruins it. The rest is just flat or choppy.

So, to wrap it up: there’s a nearly two-week stretch here with no real surfing. The best you can hope for is a glassy knee-high bump on Thursday 20th morning. The rest is a write-off. It’s one of those quiet runs that happens in this area – the forecasts can change, but right now, patience is the name of the game.

Stay tuned, Rusty.

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