West Wittering Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ for West Wittering over the next couple of weeks. I gotta be straight with you from the off – this stretch is lookin' flat and pretty grim. We’ve got a big gap of weak, choppy, or flat conditions to paddle through before we see anything worth getting wet for.

We start on Monday the 17th of August, and right through the beginning of the period, it's a total write-off. The wind is howlin’ onshore or cross-onshore from the southwest, whipping up wind ripples and chop. The few bits of swell that do show up are tiny – we’re talking 0.4m to 0.8m with periods of just 3 to 4 seconds. That’s just wind slop, not real waves. The combined wave energy is barely registering, between 4 and 34 – that’s weak stuff. It’s not even worth hauling your board down for. Honestly, this first week is more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle surfing one with those strong southwest winds and poor quality surf.

That run of poor conditions stretches all the way through until Sunday the 23rd, when we get a tiny tease. On Sunday morning, the 23rd, the wind goes glassy – light northwest breeze at 5 km/h – and we get a tiny 0.1m groundswell from the west with a 10-second period. The energy is still next to nothing (2), so it’s a flat, clean mirror. It’s pretty to look at, but there’s no rideable wave.

Then we hit another dead zone. Monday the 24th is clean but flat as a pancake. The 25th and 26th are the same story – scraps of swell with dreadful onshore winds. By Wednesday the 26th afternoon, the wind is howling near gale force southwest at 55 km/h with light rain. No one in their right mind would be out there.

Now, here’s the only faint glimmer in this whole outlook. On Thursday morning, the 27th of August, we see a cross-shore wind from the northwest at 30 km/h and a solid 0.9m swell from the south-southwest with a 7-second period. The combined energy jumps up to 88 – that’s still weak-to-moderate, but it’s the most we’ve seen. The wind is lumpy, though, creating cross-chop. The afternoon is worse with onshore winds. It’s not a standout, but if you’re desperate, Thursday morning is your window. The break is West Wittering, a sheltered beach/groyne setup in the United Kingdom that’s best with southwest swell. It’s inconsistent and can get crowded sometimes.

The rest of the run into the end of August and the first of September is more of the same – tiny swell, poor wind, and rain. On Monday the 31st of August morning, we get a clean, 0.1m swell from the south with a very long period of 16 seconds, but with no height at all, it’s just a clean flat ocean. The energy is only 8.

The bottom line: There is no quality surf on offer in this entire 16-day window. We’ve got a blank run from the 17th right through to the 1st of September. The waves are too small and the wind is too messy. For this area, a quiet stretch like this is pretty normal when there's no big Atlantic low to push swell in. It tends not to stay poor for long, so check back soon. Forecasts can change.

Rusty, signing off.

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