Yzerfontein Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, let’s have a look at what’s heading our way for Yzerfontein over the next couple of weeks. The story here is a classic Cape Town-adjacent setup: there’s plenty of swell on the horizon, but we’ve gotta pick our windows carefully. It starts off with some small, clean fun early Friday morning, then gets a bit messy before building into some proper size mid-week. The real standout looks like next Tuesday morning, with a big, powerful groundswell and glassy conditions.

Alright, let’s start with this Friday morning, the 28th of August. Yzerfontein is a beach and reef setup, and it’s exposed to the WSW. First light Friday is looking like a sneaky little winner. We’ve got a 3 ft swell from the WSW, and with a 16-second period, that’s proper long-period groundswell. The wind is glassy at 3 mph from the SE, so the surface will be like a mirror. The combined swell energy is 655, so it’s moderate but very clean. This is a great window for a longboard or a fish – the waves will be small but perfectly formed. Crowds are a possibility here sometimes, so get in early.

Friday afternoon the southerly wind picks up to 9 mph and goes cross-shore, with the swell bumping up to 4 ft but the quality drops off. It’s gonna be a bit messy.

Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th are a mixed bag. Saturday morning has a clean-ish 5 ft from the WSW with a cross-off SSE breeze at 16 mph, but the energy is building (796). It’s still marginal. Saturday arvo turns into a write-off with a fresh 22 mph southerly and lumpy 6 ft surf. Sunday morning sees a 8 ft SW swell with a 13-second period, but the cross-off wind is 19 mph and it’s lumpy. The combined energy is up to 1720, which is strong, but the quality just isn’t there for a tidy paddle session. If you’re into kite surfing, Sunday arvo with a 22 mph cross-shore and 7 ft swell might actually be more your scene.

Monday the 31st of August is a bit of a tease – 7 ft from the SW in the morning with a light cross-onshore at 6 mph. It’s rideable but not screaming “go now”.

Now for the real standout. Tuesday the 1st of September morning is the one. The swell is 8 ft from the SW with a 13-second period, and the wind is glassy – absolutely flat calm from the NW at 3 mph. The combined energy is a very strong 1945. This is excellent surf for experienced surfers. The water temp is about average for this time of year. If you paddle out at Yzerfontein for the morning session, you’ll have a clean, powerful, long-period groundswell with big sets. This is the pick of the whole 16 days.

Tuesday arvo the wind swings SW and goes cross-onshore, and the quality drops off a cliff.

Now, hold onto your board. Wednesday the 2nd of September morning is a monster. We’re looking at a 16 ft swell from the SW with a very long 17-second period. Combined energy is a massive 13725. The wind is a fresh 19 mph cross-shore from the S. This is huge, heavy, and way too big for this break. Only absolute experts with a death wish would be out there, and even then, it’s going to be a washing machine. This is a day to watch from the cliffs, or it’s strictly for big-wave chargers. Thursday also sees big, powerful swell over 10 ft with strong cross-off winds, but again, the size makes it a specialist-only affair.

By the time we get to Friday the 4th, the wind is howling near-gale strength from the SSE at 37 mph with 15 ft swell. Forget about paddle surfing – that’s full kite or foil territory, and even then it’s messy.

After that big pulse, it drops back. Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th have smaller 6 ft to 3 ft swells, but the wind is mostly onshore or cross. There are some small clean windows on the 11th and 12th of September, but the energy is low and the wind is often strong.

So, to wrap it up: the best surf on offer is hands down the Tuesday the 1st of September morning session at Yzerfontein. Glassy, strong 8 ft groundswell, excellent conditions for anyone who knows what they’re doing. The next promising window is the Wednesday the 9th of September morning, where we see a 5 ft WSW swell with a 12-second period and light cross-off winds – that’ll be clean and fun, though not as powerful as Tuesday. The rest of the run has big gaps of poor wind or overwhelming size. Don’t sleep on that Tuesday morning.

– Rusty.

Read more