Tybee Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into it for the next couple of weeks.

Well, I’ll be honest with you, this stretch of the forecast is a pretty flat one for Tybee Pier. The pattern is clear: we’re looking at a whole lot of small, weak swell with tricky wind directions, and the overall scorecard is about as blank as a calm sea.

There’s a big gap at the start here. From Wednesday morning all the way through to the late hours of August, the surf is consistently rated as poor. The swell heights are tiny, mostly between 0.7 ft and 2 ft, with periods all over the place but often short and weak. The combined wave energy is mostly in the teens or twenties, definitely weak stuff. The winds are a constant problem too – mostly cross-onshore from the south or southeast, creating choppy, messy conditions.

The water temperature on Wednesday morning is 86°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but with the surf so quiet, it’s not exactly a selling point.

We do finally see a tiny flicker of life on the morning of Friday, August 28th. The wind swings to a clean offshore from the WNW at 6 mph, and we get a clean surface. The swell is still only 1 ft from the southeast with a period of 9 seconds, and the combined energy is a low 42. The report says it’s surfable, but very ordinary. It’s a small, clean window, but it’s hard to get excited about the size.

The next standout moment comes on the morning of Saturday, August 29th. This is the best we’re going to see. The swell picks up to 3 ft from the east with a 10-second period, and the combined energy jumps to 288, which is moderate. The wind is a light cross-onshore from the east at 6 mph, so it’s not perfect, but the swell is the biggest of the entire run. The afternoon sees a full onshore wind, which will ruin it. That morning window is your best bet, but it’s still a marginal call.

Looking further ahead into the first week of September, there’s a chance of a glassy 2 ft on Tuesday morning, September 1st, but the period is a short 7 seconds. Then on Tuesday afternoon we see a bigger 3 ft swell from the east-southeast with a long 13-second period, but the wind is a moderate cross-onshore, making it choppy and not great. There’s a similar pattern on Wednesday morning, September 2nd, with 3 ft swell and a 12-second period, but again the wind is cross-onshore.

Honestly, this is a long, quiet run. If you’ve got a kite, the bigger, breezier afternoons in late August might be more interesting than paddling for these tiny waves. For the rest of us, get the longboard or the skimboard ready, or just wait for a change in the forecast.

Rusty.

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