Anglet - La Petite Madrague Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, checkin' in with the outlook for the home beach.

Alright, listen up. We’ve got a bit of a story unfoldin' here at Anglet - La Petite Madrague. For the next few days, it’s gonna be a real mixed bag, mostly a whole lot of nothin' to get excited about. We’re lookin' at a dry spell for a while, so don't be in a rush to wax up just yet.

Sunday morning the 23rd, the sea is flat and glassy with a weak 2ft NW swell (62 combined energy). It's surfable but it's tiny, real tiny. The wind is calm, so it's clean, but you'll be fightin' for scraps. That’s about as good as it gets for a while, because the next few days are a write-off. Monday through to Thursday the 27th, the swell is just too small, under 3ft, and the wind is a mess – onshore, cross-onshore, and just generally ugly. Hardly worth paddlin' out.

Now things start to get a bit more interesting, but not in a good way for us paddle surfers. Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th, the swell jumps up, with Friday morning seein' 6ft (599 energy) and Saturday morning pumpin' at 8ft (1207 energy). That's some serious energy, but the wind is howlin' onshore or cross-onshore from the west and northwest. That sorta setup at a beach/jetty break like this? It's gonna be a choppy, blown-out mess. Honestly, for those days, this spot looks a lot more interesting for kite surfers than for us on a paddle board. The swell is also gettin' into the too-big-for-beginners range on Friday, and by Saturday it's over 8ft, so that's expert-only territory anyway, and sloppy with it.

But hold on to your leashes, 'cause Sunday the 30th is the one. Sunday morning the 30th, we get a clean-up. The wind swings to a light offshore from the ENE, and the swell drops back to a clean 4ft from the NW. The combined energy is a solid 250, and it’s that clean offshore wind we dream about. The period is 8 seconds, so it’s a bit short-period, but with that offshore wind, it’ll be punchy and fun. This is the standout for the whole window. It won't be empty, though – the crowds are possible here, so get there early.

After that, it fades off again. Monday the 31st and Tuesday the 1st are back to small, onshore slop. There’s a little window on Wednesday morning the 2nd with a tiny 2ft glassy swell (64 energy), but it’s a real small one for the longboarders. The real looker in the long-range is Monday the 7th of September. The forecast shows a clean 4ft groundswell from the NW with a nice 12-second period, and a light offshore wind. That has 452 energy behind it. It's a long way out, so don't book the plane tickets yet, but it's a promising one to keep an eye on.

So, to sum it up: the early part of the run is a bust. The middle part gets big but ugly. The clear winner is Sunday the 30th of August morning. The long-range promise is Monday the 7th of September.

Rusty, out.

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