Ventura Overhead Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, it's Rusty here. Look, I gotta be straight with you—this 16-day window for Ventura Overhead is a tough one. We're staring down a long stretch of poor surf conditions, with hardly any energy to get excited about. The forecast shows a real flat spell kicking off from Wednesday the 26th of August and dragging through most of the period, with only a few flickers of weak swell.

The overriding pattern is small, weak, and onshore-affected. For the first ten days or so, from Wednesday morning through to the end of August and into early September, we're looking at swell heights wobbling between 0.3 ft and 3 ft, mostly from the west or southwest, with periods that are short—mostly under 9 seconds. The combined swell energy is weak, hanging around in the tens to low hundreds (26 to 165), which just isn't enough to get the reef doing anything worthwhile. Winds are mostly onshore or cross-onshore, light to gentle breezes, and that's keeping the surface messy. There's a brief window on Thursday morning, September 3rd, where it goes glassy, but with only 1 ft on offer and a period of 5 seconds, it's barely a ripple.

The standout—if you want to call it that—is a small window of long-period groundswell that pops up early in September. On Tuesday afternoon, September 1st, we see a 0.3 ft swell from the southwest with a very long period of 18 seconds, and combined energy of 16. Then on Wednesday morning, September 2nd, it's 1.0 ft from the southwest at 16 seconds, with energy up to 45. And again on Thursday morning, September 10th, we get a 2 ft southwest swell at 16 seconds, with energy of 148. That's the highest energy in the whole forecast, but it's still weak. The long period means the waves might have a bit of shape, but with such tiny heights, it's going to be a struggle to find anything rideable. For a reef like Ventura Overhead, the long period could help, but it's not enough to recommend it.

Honestly, there's no good surf on offer here. The break is inconsistent at the best of times, and this run of flat, weak conditions is pretty normal for the area. If you're desperate, keep an eye on that September 10th window, but don't hold your breath. The water temp is about average for the time of year, so at least you won't be freezing while you're sitting there waiting for a wave that never comes.

Rusty.

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