Cape Town.
Now
· updated 11 hours agoThe week begins with a blown-out 3m southwest swell at 13-15 seconds on Tuesday, easing through Wednesday as wind drops from blown-out to moderate. Thursday marks the week’s peak under light ESE to ENE wind, with a 1.9-1.6m SW swell at 13 seconds holding steady before fading into the weekend. A fresh pulse builds from Monday onward, with WSW swell rising to 4m by Thursday’s second peak under strong W to SSW wind, then gradually easing through Friday and Saturday as winds shift and blow out again. Looks like Thursday dawn during the initial light wind phase will offer the cleanest conditions before the larger swell arrives.
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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.