Wildwood Crest Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – this 16-day window for Wildwood Crest is a tough one. Looking at the whole picture, there’s just not much to get excited about. The waves are small, the wind is often messy, and the energy is weak. We’ve got a long stretch of poor conditions ahead, so don’t be planning any big surf trips just yet.

The first real chance of anything rideable shows up on the morning of Thursday, 16 July. We’re looking at tiny, weak waves from the south at 3 ft, but the wind is a light cross-offshore from the west, so the surface will be clean. The swell period is a short 5 seconds, so it’s a windswell with no power – combined energy is only 56. It’s surfable, but just barely.

Friday, 17 July, starts the same way – clean 2 ft south swell in the morning with light west cross-off winds. Again, it’s ordinary, but you can get a few knee-high dribblers if you’re desperate. The afternoon gets messy with onshore wind.

The best of a bad bunch shapes up on the morning of Saturday, 18 July. The swell bumps up a touch to 3 ft from the south-southwest, winds are light cross-off from the west-northwest, and the waves clean up nicely. Combined energy is still weak at 65. It’s small, but glassy conditions make it the most pleasant session of the whole outlook. For a beginner, this is your pick.

Sunday, 19 July, is worth a look too. The morning is glassy with a 2 ft south-southeast swell, periods stretching to 8 seconds – that’s a bit more push. The water temp is about average for the time of year, so no surprises there. The afternoon holds clean with cross-off winds from the north-northeast. This is the best-consistency window we get.

After that, it’s a downhill slide. From Monday, 20 July, onward, the wind kicks up onshore and stays that way. The swell does get a bit bigger into the second week – the afternoon of 21 July sees 5 ft from the south, but it’s messy with 12-15 mph onshore winds, and a combined energy of 203. That’s a moderate amount of energy, but the conditions are choppy and poor. Honestly, later in the period, that setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The 25th of July is a complete write-off with 19 mph cross-shore winds.

So, to sum it up: the only real standouts are the clean, small mornings from Saturday, 18 July through Sunday, 19 July. Don’t expect much else. The crowds at Wildwood Crest can be an issue “often,” so get out early if you can.

Stay patient, keep your eyes on the forecast, and remember – it never stays poor for too long.

Rusty

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