The Washout surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 5am
5–7 ft · sets to 8
GoodBest today All day (7am–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 5am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell7.2 ft · 12 s · EMakes the wave: 100% of the energy. Direction at the break. Bent 16° from ENE in deep water.
- Wind22 mph from the NNECross-shore to a shoreline facing 154°Gale
- Tide0.5 ft, fallingNext low -1.5 ft at 8:31am · NAVD88, NOAA 8665530 observed
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 11 ft of water
- Energy684 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
- Water78° · air 54° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (7am–7pm)
Against what The Washout likesWhy it is Good, not Epic
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 5amWrightsville Beach, Jacksonville Beach Pier and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand over the remains of a washed-out subdivision — pipes, foundations and rubble
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand over the remains of a washed-out subdivision — pipes, foundations and rubble
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2019), 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 5am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
7.2 ft at 12s from the E 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 76° and reaches the break at 92°, bent 16° 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 0.80 · 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
0.5 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 11 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
22 mph from the NNE, against a shoreline facing 154°.
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 The Washout worksA stretch of Folly Island where the sea took the houses back in…
A stretch of Folly Island where the sea took the houses back in the 1980s and left the foundations, pipes and rubble under the sand. Those obstructions hold banks that nothing else on the South Carolina coast can match. The shelf here is very shallow and very flat, so it needs a real swell — but on a hurricane it is the best wave in the state.
- Best tidemid to low
- Best swellE–SE swell, S on a hurricane
- Suitsintermediate
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about The Washout
- What is the best tide for The Washout?
- The Washout works best on mid to low 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 The Washout?
- E–SE swell, S on a hurricane suits The Washout 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 The Washout good for beginners?
- The Washout suits intermediate surfers, over sand over the remains of a washed-out subdivision — pipes, foundations and rubble. 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 The Washout?
- sand over the remains of a washed-out subdivision — pipes, foundations and rubble. 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 The Washout on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.