Rincon, Puerto Rico Surf Forecast – Jan 13, 2018

High pressure dominates again – small surf continues.

If you’re thinking about coming down to learn how to surf, you’ll have the most perfect conditions for that every single day. If you want waves bigger than knee to waist high, you’ll have to wait. High pressure is setup over the entire North Atlantic and jamming things up again. The fronts aren’t pulling out into the ocean and just continue to stay over land and wreak havoc on the NE United States. Why can’t they just go off to sea? I want it, people in the NE US want it, everyone wants them to just blow out and away at sea. Unfortunately it’s just not what is happening. This pattern is supposed to persist for another week to 10 days so don’t expect any major surf during that time frame. This puts us towards the end of the month for the next likely swell event. Sorry folks.

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.