Vale do Lobo Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – the next couple of weeks at Vale do Lobo are a tough watch. There’s nothing remotely exciting on the cards, so don’t expect to be paddling out for any memorable sessions. The whole 16-day outlook is basically a write-off for decent waves.

The first few days are particularly grim. Tuesday the 11th starts with clean, glassy conditions in the morning and a tiny 1ft swell from the W, but with only 6 seconds of period and combined swell energy a weak 9, it’s just not doing anything. That gets blown out by a strong onshore westerly by the afternoon. Wednesday the 12th is glassy again in the morning with a 1ft WSW swell, period 10 seconds, energy still low at 22, but the waves are described as poor. Wednesday arvo it’s onshore and messy.

We get a little flicker of hope on Thursday the 13th morning – glassy conditions, 2ft from the W, period 9 secs, energy up to 63 – but the forecast just says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions". That’s the best it gets all fortnight, which tells you everything.

Friday the 14th morning is similar – glassy, 2ft, moderate 9-second period, energy 41 – but again, just ordinary. Then the wind and swell quality fall apart again.

From Saturday the 15th right through to Monday the 25th of August, it’s a desert. Nearly every session is rated as poor surf conditions. You get onshore winds, messy seas, short periods, and combined energy values that mostly sit in the weak range. Even when the wind does go light or cross-off, like on Saturday the 22nd morning with clean conditions and a 1ft swell, the energy is only 40 and the surf is "very ordinary". Nothing stands out.

A couple of afternoons in the last week – the 25th of August especially – show combined energy hitting 135 (moderate) with a 2ft W swell and 10-second period, but the onshore southerly wind kills any quality. It’s a consistent pattern of small, chopped-up, onshore slop.

This is a spot that’s fairly consistent, so this blank run feels like a bad spell. But right now, honestly? Don’t plan a trip around it. The swell is just too small, too weak, and the wind too often onshore to make anything work. Even for the groms, the biggest swell we see is 3ft on the 24th – barely enough to get a push. For the experienced crew, there’s nothing here.

Rusty

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