Woolacombe Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Gonna be honest with you, looking at the whole 16-day window for Woolacombe, it’s a bit of a tough one. The forecast is real quiet for the first week with barely a ripple. There’s a lot of waiting around for the good stuff to line up, and for a long time, it just doesn’t. Then things get a bit bigger, but the wind turns ugly. We’ve got a few notable windows, but the real standout is toward the end of the run.

We start off on Saturday, the 8th, with a tiny 0.7ft swell from the west. The water is sitting at 66°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, a real treat. But the wave energy is pathetic (6), and it's poor surf overall. That flat spell continues right through the whole first week. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – nothing worth paddling out for. The swell stays under 2ft, the periods are short, and the energy is weak. It’s a real dry spell. By Wednesday, the 12th, we finally see a pulse of 2ft to 2ft swell from the west with a 10-second period, and the energy jumps into the moderate range (73 to 95). The morning has a clean offshore breeze from the ESE, making it surfable, but it's still very ordinary. Not a highlight, just a glimpse of life.

Thursday the 13th is the first real glimmer. The swell height hits 3ft from the WSW, with a long period of 11 seconds, and the energy is solid (191). That’s a proper groundswell, and it’ll have some shape. But the problem is the wind: onshore and choppy by the afternoon. The morning is glassy with a light cross-shore, so if you can get out early, it’s your best bet for the whole first week. After that, we slide back into poor conditions through the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th. The wind is onshore or cross-onshore, and the swell is either small or messy.

Now, the real action – and the only true standout – comes on Saturday, the 22nd of August. The swell pumps up to 5ft from the west, with a period of 7 to 9 seconds. The wave energy is strong, hitting 277 in the morning and a massive 412 in the afternoon (strong to very strong wave energy). That’s a proper winter-sized swell for Woolacombe in summer. However, and this is a big however, the wind is howling onshore from the west at 25 mph. That will turn the waves into a messy, blown-out storm. Honestly, for a beach and reef setup like Woolacombe, with that much wind and a 5ft swell, it’s probably going to look more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. It’s too big and blown out for beginners, and even for experts, it’s going to be a battle. The following Sunday, the 23rd, is similar with 5ft to 5ft swell, but still cross-onshore wind at 16 to 19 mph, leaving it lumpy and choppy.

So, the standout window is the early morning of Thursday, 13th August, with that 3ft, 11-second groundswell and light winds. It’s not epic, but it’s the cleanest wave of the fortnight. The big swell on the 22nd has power, but the wind ruins it for a clean surf session. Keep an eye on the charts, things can change, but for now, it’s a waiting game.

Rusty.

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