Venice Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ve gotta be straight with you – the next couple of weeks at Venice Pier are looking pretty flat and uninspiring. We’re in for a long stretch of small, messy conditions with onshore and cross-onshore winds spoiling most of what little swell there is. The water temperature is sitting at 70°, which is a massive 6° warmer than usual for this time of year – that’s a real standout, very unusual, feels like a bath out there.

The first real glimmer of something surfable doesn’t show up until Sunday the 19th of July, and even then it’s only marginal. The swell is a tiny 2ft coming from the SW with a period of 17 seconds – that’s a long period groundswell, which should give the waves some shape, but the energy is moderate at best (475). The morning has a light cross-onshore breeze, so it’s gonna be a bit bumpy. This is really just a slight improvement over the flat, choppy junk we’ve had all week.

Monday the 20th sees a similar story: 3ft from the S with a period of 13 seconds in the morning, but the wind is still cross-onshore. The combined energy drops to 376 (moderate), and it’s still rated as marginal. Honestly, you’re not missing much.

The best chance in the whole 16-day window looks like Friday the 24th of July. The swell picks up to 3ft in the morning from the S, with a period of 17 seconds – that’s a nice long groundswell, and the energy jumps to a strong 1017. The wind is light and cross-onshore, so it’ll be a bit bumpy but not terrible. By the afternoon, the swell builds to 4ft from the S with a 16-second period, and the energy is even stronger at 1111. The wind switches to a stronger onshore, though, so it’ll get messy. Still, this is the standout – the morning session on the 24th is your best bet for a few clean, lined-up waves, but it’s still only marginal, so don’t expect perfection.

The following Saturday the 25th holds 4ft to 5ft from the SSW, but the wind is onshore and gets up to 12 mph in the afternoon, making it pretty choppy. Not worth it.

After that, it fades again into small, onshore slop for the rest of the period. Venice Pier is a beginner-friendly sandbar, but with the swell rarely getting above 3ft and the wind mostly wrong, it’s more of a paddling spot than a surfing one for the foreseeable future. The crowds are ‘often’ there, but with waves this small, I doubt many will be out.

Take it from me, hold off until that Friday the 24th morning, and maybe you’ll get a couple of fun ones. Otherwise, it’s a long wait.

Rusty.

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