White Crest Beach (Wellfleet) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, and I’m looking at the next couple of weeks for us in Wellfleet. Gonna be a real quiet stretch, no two ways about it. The first week, from Sunday the 23rd through the end of August, it’s tiny. The swell is mostly 1 to 2 feet, and the energy in the water is just pathetic—we’re talking readings in the 20s and 30s (48), which is barely a ripple. The water’s at 69.3°, which is dead average for this time of year, so that’s fine, but there’s just no wave to ride.

The only real flicker of something rideable comes on Thursday the 27th morning and Friday the 28th morning. We get a little bump up to 2 feet out of the SE with a short period of 8 seconds, and the wind is a cross-offshore breeze, so it’ll be clean. But the energy is still low (62 and 63), and the waves are just ordinary. It’s not anything to get excited about.

Then we hit a proper dead zone. From Saturday the 29th all the way through to Friday the 4th of September, the surf is just a mess. The swell drops to 1 to 1.5 feet, and the wind is mostly cross-onshore or onshore, making it choppy and pretty much unrideable. The energy is low, and it’s a write-off for paddle surfing.

Now, the only thing that has any pulse is a long way out. Saturday the 5th of September shows a bit of life. The swell comes up to 2 to 2.5 feet out of the SE, but the period jumps to a very long 13 seconds. That’s a groundswell, so it’ll have some punch, but it’s a long-period swell that’s gonna jack up and break straight at a beach break like White Crest Beach (Wellfleet). The combined energy hits a strong 258 to 330, so there’s real power in the water. The Saturday afternoon looks best with a light cross-shore breeze and clean conditions. But the real standout is Sunday the 6th afternoon: glassy conditions, 2.5 feet of swell, and 263 units of energy. It’s the cleanest, most powerful window we get in the whole 16 days, but it’s a one-off. The Monday the 7th drops right back off again.

So, my honest take: there’s no real standout for the first week and a half. The only one worth pointing the board at is that Sunday afternoon, the 6th of September, at White Crest Beach. It’s the cleanest, most powerful swell of the whole period, but it’s a long way out, so don’t count on it. For the rest of it, it’s a flat spell. If you’re desperate, you might get a knee-high dribbler on the 27th or 28th. Otherwise, it’s a waiting game.

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