West Wittering Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – this is a tough stretch for us. The surf forecast for the next 16 days at West Wittering is looking pretty grim, with no real standout sessions to get excited about. The opening few days are a write-off, and we’ve got a long, flat gap of practically no waves in the middle of the period. Let’s get into it.

The first couple of days, Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th of August, are a complete mess. We’ve got tiny, weak swell around 2ft to 3ft from the SW and WSW, but the wind is all wrong – strong cross-onshore and onshore, making it choppy and lumpy. The wave energy is weak (only 9 to 72). It’s poor surf, not worth paddling out for.

Friday 21st August morning is the closest we get to a decent window. The wind switches to a light offshore from the NNE at 12 mph, and the conditions are clean. But the problem is the swell is barely a ripple – 0.3ft from the SW. It’s flat. Friday afternoon is glassy and calm, but again, that 0.3ft swell with a 9-second period won’t break properly. It’s a total non-event.

Then from Saturday 22nd August all the way through the middle of the week, we hit a complete dead zone. The swell height is either zero or flagged as a dash, and the combined energy is zero. That’s a solid five or six days of nothing. If you’re waiting for a wave, you’re waiting on the beach.

We do see a small pulse of energy on Wednesday 26th August afternoon, with a 3ft swell from the WSW and a period of 8 seconds. The combined energy hits 153 – that’s moderate wave energy. But it’s let down by a fresh cross-onshore wind from the south at 22 mph, making it lumpy. Still poor surf.

The second week remains uninspiring. Thursday 27th to Monday 31st August offers tiny, messy swells, mostly under 3ft, with onshore or cross-shore winds. The best of a bad bunch might be Monday 31st August afternoon, with a 4ft swell from the SW at 7 seconds, but the wind is a fresh cross-onshore from the west at 22 mph, making it lumpy. The energy is moderate (135), but the quality is poor.

Into early September, the pattern doesn’t change. Tuesday 1st September has a 2ft SSW swell with a longer 10-second period, which would normally mean more shape, but the wind is cross-on or cross-shore, and the quality is poor. The rest of the outlook is just more of the same – small, weak, and wind-affected.

Honestly, this is a blank run. The area is just not cooperating. There are no standout sessions, no clean groundswell, and the wind is almost always in the wrong direction. For an intermediate spot like West Wittering, the lack of any consistent swell makes it a tough call. If you’re a beginner, the swell rarely gets above 5ft, but the conditions are so poor it won’t be fun. For experts, well, there’s nothing to even look at. The setup here is more suitable for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer on many of these days, given the consistent cross and onshore winds.

We’ll have to wait for the forecasts to change. Rusty out.

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