Woolacombe Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, mate, Rusty here. Let’s get into it.

To be straight with you, the next 16 days at Woolacombe are a real mixed bag, and honestly, the first week and a half is pretty grim. We’ve got a long stretch of poor surf conditions before anything remotely interesting shows up.

The standout session, if you can call it that, is looking like the morning of Friday, August 28th. It’s the biggest pulse of the whole forecast, with a 6 ft swell from the west, and a moderate cross-onshore wind from the northwest. The combined wave energy is a solid 408, so there’s some proper power in the water. This is expert territory due to the size, and the wind won’t be perfect, but it’s the most size and energy we’ll see. The other noteworthy moment is the Tuesday afternoon of August 25th, with a 4 ft west-southwest swell and a light cross-shore breeze from the north-northwest, giving a combined energy of 212. That’s a much cleaner, more manageable size for most surfers.

The water temperature on the first day (August 14th) is 66°F, which is a "much warmer than normal" anomaly of 4°F – that’s notably warm for this time of year.

Let’s run through the period. From August 14th right through to about August 21st, the surf is consistently poor. Waves are tiny, often under 2 ft, with onshore or cross-onshore winds messing up the surface. The best waves in that stretch are on the morning of the 19th (5 ft, from the west) and the 20th (5 ft, from the west), but both are hammered by a fresh 19 mph cross-onshore wind, making them lumpy and choppy. Not a good time.

We get a bit of a respite on the 22nd, when a strong east-northeast wind goes offshore, but the swell is only 1 ft – super small and weak. The 23rd, 24th, and 25th morning are flat with tiny 0.3 ft swells.

Then things pick up. The afternoon of the 25th brings a 4 ft west-southwest swell with a light cross-shore wind (212 energy). That’s clean and fun. The 26th has some 3 ft swell, but the wind is cross-onshore, so it’s a bit choppy. The 27th is a write-off with strong onshore winds.

Now, the morning of the 28th is the big one: 6 ft, west swell, fresh cross-onshore. It’s big, powerful (408 energy), and rough. The afternoon drops to 4 ft with the same wind. The 29th sees a tiny, long-period groundswell (17 seconds) from the west-southwest, but it’s only 1.0 ft – that long period will make for very clean, lined-up waves at the point or reef, but there’s just not enough height.

To sum it up: the best bet is the morning of the 28th for size and power, but it’s a rough one. For a cleaner, more manageable wave, aim for the afternoon of the 25th. Everything else is a struggle.

Rusty.

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