Cape Town.
Now
· updated 13 hours agoWSW swell builds from 1-2m at 10-12 seconds Friday to a WEEK PEAK of 4-5m at 13-15 seconds Tuesday under moderate wind shifting from NNW to S. The peak eases to 3-4m by Thursday with light to moderate wind, then drops to 2-3m by next weekend as wind shifts SE and strengthens to strong or blown-out. Looks like Tuesday dawn under moderate wind will be the best window before the swell peaks.
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About Cape Town
Cape Town sits on the Cape Peninsula at the south-west tip of South Africa, two coastlines under one mountain range. The Atlantic west side is cold and exposed: Llandudno, Long Beach Kommetjie, Big Bay, and Dungeons, the big-wave paddle reef under the Sentinel in Hout Bay where Red Bull Big Wave Africa ran from 1999 to 2008. The False Bay east side is warmer and mellower; Muizenberg is South Africa’s beginner mecca.
Peak runs May through September, the South African winter, when Roaring Forties storms south of the Cape send long-period south-west swell into the peninsula. Working size on the Atlantic side is 2 to 4 m at period 13 s+. Dungeons switches on past 3 m with 15 s+ swell. The Cape Doctor, the hard south-east wind that blows September through March, is offshore on the Atlantic and onshore in False Bay. In winter the wind backs east to east-north-east. Dawn glass on the Atlantic is the play.
Atlantic water sits at 12 to 15 °C in winter, 14 to 18 °C in summer. False Bay runs 3 to 4 °C warmer, occasionally 22 °C in February. A 4/3 mm with hood and boots covers Atlantic winter; a 3/2 mm is enough for False Bay summer. White-shark spotters watch Muizenberg and Fish Hoek; sightings are part of the routine. On a Cape Doctor day, run False Bay. On a winter front, the Atlantic side is the call. Beginners go to Muizenberg; the next step up is Long Beach or Glen Beach.