Ditch Plains surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 11am
3–4 ft · sets to 5
Fair-GoodBest today All day (11am–7pm)
Wind is the limiting factor.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 11am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell3.8 ft · 9 s · ESEMakes the wave: 100% of the energy. Direction at the break. Bent 8° from ESE in deep water.
- Wind14 mph from the NECross-shore to a shoreline facing 170°Strong
- Tide-0.6 ft, risingNext high 0.4 ft at 4:46pm · NAVD88, NOAA 8510560 observed
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 7 ft of water
- Energy115 kJHeight² × period²Moderate
- Water62° · air 57° · UV 3
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (11am–7pm)
Against what Ditch Plains likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not Good
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 11amLido Beach, Rockaway Beach 90th Street and 3 more
The break
The seafloorCobble and boulder points over sand
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomcobble and boulder points over sand
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2015), relative to NAVD88. Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like thisOne swell, uncrossed, it bends on the way in, the seafloor spreads it
Read from the current hour (today at 11am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
3.8 ft at 9s from the ESE and nothing significant crossing it.
A single train is the cleanest case there is: the sets arrive from one angle, so the peak should sit in the same place each time instead of wandering. Why period matters more than height
It bends on the way in
That swell leaves deep water heading 103° and reaches the break at 111°, bent 8° on the way.
Shallow water slows a wave, so the end of the crest that reaches the shallows first swings around. That is refraction. It's why this spot can be working on a swell direction the open coast is missing, and why the swell angle on a buoy is never the angle at your break. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
The seafloor spreads it
Kr 0.73 · 92% of modelled rays break.
Energy is fanning outwards over the bottom here, so the wave arrives smaller than the open-ocean swell height suggests. Nothing is wrong with the forecast. The seafloor took the difference.
Where it trips
-0.6 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 7 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Wind is cross-shore
14 mph from the NE, against a shoreline facing 170°.
Running across the face rather than into or against it. Less destructive than a straight onshore, but it puts a texture on the wall and can make the peak harder to read.
How Ditch Plains worksA cobblestone point on Montauk's south shore that peels a long,…
A cobblestone point on Montauk's south shore that peels a long, forgiving right on almost anything with south in it. It is New York's longboard wave and the reason Montauk has a surf culture at all: gentle takeoff, a wall that runs for a hundred metres on a good bank, and it works from waist-high to well overhead.
- Best tidemid
- Best swellS–SE groundswell
- Suitsintermediate
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Ditch Plains
- What is the best tide for Ditch Plains?
- Ditch Plains works best on mid tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Ditch Plains?
- S–SE groundswell suits Ditch Plains best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Ditch Plains good for beginners?
- Ditch Plains suits intermediate surfers, over cobble and boulder points over sand. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Ditch Plains?
- cobble and boulder points over sand. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Ditch Plains on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.