Cape Town.
Now
· updated 14 hours agoSouthwest swell at 11-15 seconds peaks Monday dawn at 2.4m under moderate NNW wind, fading to 2.0m by evening as wind shifts to SE and turns glassy. Mid-week builds to 2.7m Wednesday under light ESE wind before dropping to 2.0m Thursday as wind goes moderate NNW. Weekend sees WSW swell at 10-11s holding 2.0m under strong NNW wind, easing to light SW by Sunday. Looks like Monday dawn under glassy NNW wind will be the best window. A fresh SSW pulse arrives next Monday at 2.9m with 10-12s period, building to 3.3m by evening under strong SSW wind before going blown-out ESE. Tuesday drops to 1.8m as wind shifts NW and turns moderate.
Swell height
Wave systems
- primary —
- secondary —
- tertiary —
- wind sea —
Power
Wind speed
Tide
Weather
Nearby regions
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.