Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 8am
9–11 ft · sets to 14
Poor-FairBest available today 12–7pm
Swell lines up. 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 8am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell9.2 ft · 12 s · NEMakes the wave: 100% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind22 mph from the NEOnshore to a shoreline facing 63°Gale
- Tide-1.8 ft, fallingNext low -1.9 ft at 9:09am · NAVD88, NOAA 8722213 predicted (no live sensor)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 16 ft of water
- Energy1102 kJHeight² × period²Heavy
- Water83° · air 79° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best window12–7pm
No strong window today. Onshore wind all day; lightest 8–9am.
Against what Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) likesWhy it is Poor-Fair, not Fair
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 8amSouth Jetty, Cocoa Beach Pier and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand stacked against the inlet's north jetty, over rock
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand stacked against the inlet's north jetty, over rock
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2018), 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, the seafloor is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 8am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
9.2 ft at 12s from the NE 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
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.99 · 92% of modelled rays break.
Energy arrives roughly as it left deep water: this bottom neither concentrates the swell nor fans it out, so what the buoy sees is close to what you get. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
-1.8 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 16 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 onshore
22 mph from the NE, against a shoreline facing 63°.
Pushing into the back of the wave from the sea, making it crumble and break early instead of standing up. Note this is measured against the angle THIS break faces, which is why one spot can be blown out while the one round the headland is fine.
How Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) worksFirst Peak is the wave that produced Kelly Slater, the Hobgoods…
First Peak is the wave that produced Kelly Slater, the Hobgoods and a generation of Florida professionals: an A-frame stacked against the inlet's north jetty that throws a genuine barrel on a solid northeast swell. The coast here trends north-northwest, so it faces ENE and catches northeast swell more squarely than anywhere else in Florida.
- Best tidemid to low
- Best swellNE–E groundswell
- Suitsadvanced
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Sebastian Inlet (First Peak)
- What is the best tide for Sebastian Inlet (First Peak)?
- Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) 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 Sebastian Inlet (First Peak)?
- NE–E groundswell suits Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) 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 Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) good for beginners?
- Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) suits advanced surfers, over sand stacked against the inlet's north jetty, over rock. 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 Sebastian Inlet (First Peak)?
- sand stacked against the inlet's north jetty, over rock. 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 Sebastian Inlet (First Peak) on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.