Rincon Puerto Rico Surf Forecast – Aug 29, 2016

Hurricane Gaston goes cat 3 and makes surf!

Get ready to surf. You have fair warning, get your affairs in order now. Best case scenario, we could see perfect waves from Wednesday through next Monday. Hurricane Gaston went category 3 and though his position is not ideal for the swell to reach Rincon and he’ll be moving away from us, he’s powerful enough to make us some medium period swell that should wrap into Rincon. The North coast of the island should see plenty of overhead surf and glassy conditions. From Fajardo through Aguadilla, that whole coast should be firing. Rincon, should at least see some waist to chest high glassy surf each day though. Give the swell about two days to get here. We’ll see what we get on Wednesday. The remnants of TD 8 should blend with a weak front and that should push some more swell at us for early next week.

Using Automated Forecast Tools:

Remember that no matter what a computer model tells you, what you see on the beach might be completely different. That's why i go take pictures of the beach every day. These tools help give an idea of what to expect, but weather prediction is not always exact especially the further out you try to forecast. Surf forecasting takes into account the general correlation between past weather data and resulting surf conditions. Another thing to keep in mind is the difference between actual swell height and the face height of the rideable wave it creates. For example. When the waves are forecast to have a 6ft swell at 13 seconds or higher with a NW angle we normally get waves that most people would call double over-head on sets. Swell angle is also important, especially for shorter period swell (9-11 seconds). For example 3ft at 11 seconds from the NW will make a bigger wave than 4ft at 9 seconds from the NE. Normally longer period swell (13+ seconds) will be more powerful and keep the surf size a little better even if the angle isn't a direct hit to Rincon. Generally any swell less than 9 seconds is super weak here in Rincon unless it has a lot of west in it. Also, most NE swell under 12 seconds is weak and mushy. 2ft at 8 seconds is generally small to flat. ENE swell will almost never make it into Rincon unless it was something like 10ft at 18 seconds from the ENE.