Xa Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what Xa has on the menu for the next couple of weeks. Gotta be straight with you, it’s a bit of a slow cooker – we’re looking at a wait of nearly a week before anything worth paddling out for shows up.

Right now, through the afternoon of Monday the 10th, it’s pretty grim. We’ve got a run of poor conditions with cross and cross-onshore winds, mostly from the NE, and the swell is a messy, short-period windswell from the E and NE. The wave energy is moderate at best, but the wind just ruins it. You’re looking at a chop-fest. A few morning sessions on Saturday and Monday might have slightly lighter winds, but the quality is still poor or marginal at best. No point getting the wetsuit wet, honestly.

Then, things start to turn. The real action kicks off on Tuesday morning, August 11th. A proper groundswell fills in from the SSE, with a solid period of 14 seconds. The wave energy jumps to strong. Now, here’s the thing – this spot, Xa, is a reef break and it’s exposed to the east, so this long-period SSE swell might not be hitting it dead-on. But we’ve got a light SW cross-offshore breeze, so the face should be clean. The size is around 4ft, which is manageable and fun for the folks who can handle a reef. This is advanced territory and very consistent, so it won’t be a party wave, but the quality should be there. Since it’s a reef, that long-period energy should wrap in nicely. This Tuesday morning window is the first real standout.

The theme continues into Wednesday morning, August 12th, with another clean window. A bit smaller around 3ft, but the SSE swell keeps a very long 14-second period. The winds are a light cross-offshore again, giving us clean faces. The wave energy is still strong. It’s not as big as the day before, but still a solid, high-quality session for the advanced crew. The afternoon looks to get chopped up again.

Here’s a real treat for the early birds. Thursday morning, August 13th, looks glassy. Glassy! Winds from the NNE at just 3 mph. The swell drops to around 4ft from the SSE with a 12-second period, and the energy is still strong. For a reef break, that’s a dream setup. The crowd situation here can get busy though, so if you want that glassy face to yourself, be on it early.

We see a similar pattern holding through Friday morning, August 14th: clean 3ft waves on a light offshore wind. It’s smaller, but clean is clean.

Jumping ahead to the second week, it gets a bit more interesting in size but less reliable with the wind. Sunday morning, August 16th, the swell is building. We’re looking at waves around 4-5ft from the SSE with a 14-second period, and the wave energy skyrockets to very strong. That’s a lot of power. The downside is a gentle cross-onshore wind, so it’ll be a bit bumpy. Still, that’s a serious amount of water moving for the experts. By Sunday afternoon, it pushes to 6ft with similar settings.

Monday morning, August 17th holds that size at 6ft, but the swell period drops to 9 seconds and it’s a cross-on wind. At that size, with a shorter period and bad wind, it’s going to be a messy, blown-out beast. Probably more of a kite-surfing spectacle than a paddle-surfing pleasure at this beach-reef setup.

The last real whisper of quality is Wednesday morning, August 19th, with waves around 5ft from the ENE. The wind is cross and only a gentle breeze so it might be okay, but the period is a short 8 seconds of windswell. It’s marginal at best.

The standout sessions for the next two weeks are clearly Tuesday morning, August 11th, Wednesday morning, August 12th, and that glassy Thursday morning, August 13th. If you can only pick one, go for the 13th – that glassy forecast is rare and special.

Keep it salty,
Rusty

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