Rincon, Puerto Rico Surf Forecast – Sept 17, 2020

Get Ready for Teddy – Nonstop Surf for Rincon!

The waves are already really, really good. They are about to get better and better. The Atlantic is on fire right now! Paulette’s extratropical residual swell will continue to fill in as Teddy comes close and dumps extra swell at us. All Rincon beaches will light up for a week straight with most days 2-4ft overhead and glassy starting tomorrow. Early next week will see south winds so north facing beaches will be the call. Fortunately a decent amount of coastline in Puerto Rico faces north. This should help mitigate crowds. Find your favorite secluded north facing beach and surf your brains out next week. The current forecast track for Teddy keeps swell pushing towards us for a while. In addition, the weather system swooping up Sally’s remnants will add to the long period swell soup out in the North Atlantic. I’m so stoked. We’re going to have solid coverage of this swell event.

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.