West Dale Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what we’ve got going on.

Well, I’ll be honest with you – it’s a pretty rough stretch ahead for West Dale. We’re looking at a long, bleak run of poor surf conditions that starts right now and drags on for over a week. Honestly, there’s almost nothing to get excited about until the very tail end of the forecast, and even then it’s tiny.

The main issue is the wind. For days on end, we’ve got a strong, persistent cross-onshore flow, mostly out of the SW and W, just tearing the place up. The water’s sitting at 63°F, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s about the only bright spot.

Let’s run through it. Starting today, the 12th of September, through to the 19th, the swell bumps around between 3 ft and 7 ft, but it’s all short-period, messy windswell. The wave energy is moderate for most of it, like 286 (combined energy) on Saturday afternoon, but it’s totally blown out. Every single session in that first week is tagged as “poor surf conditions.” It’s a write-off.

There’s a spike on Sunday the 20th of September, where the swell jumps to 10 ft out of the WSW with a period of 8 seconds. The combined energy hits a massive 1387, so there’s plenty of power, but that’s strictly for experts only. It’s too big for beginners, and with a strong onshore wind from the SW at 25 mph, it’s going to be an unruly, dangerous mess. Not the kind of day you paddle out unless you’re keen for a beating.

After the 20th, the swell just drops off a cliff. From the 22nd of September through to the 27th, we’re looking at tiny waves – 0.3 ft to 2 ft – with very low combined energy (down to 12 or 27). The wind does go offshore or cross-offshore a few times on the 24th and 25th of September, which would make for clean conditions, but with no swell to work with, it’s a flat spell.

To be honest, there are no standout days here. If I had to pick the best of a bad lot, the 25th of September (Friday) has clean conditions with an offshore ENE breeze at 12 mph and a tiny 1 ft W swell with a 10-second period. It’s glassy, but you’d be struggling to catch anything. It’s a longboard or maybe a SUP day at best.

That’s it, folks. A long, frustrating gap of poor conditions with nothing to recommend. A blank run like this is more normal for the area when the winds are stubborn. We’ll hope the forecasts change.

Rusty.

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