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Surf City El Salvador Pro
June 6th - 15th
(All dates refer to local time)

Teahupoo - Punta Roca
Left-hand reefbreak - Right-hand pointbreak
Southern hemisphere - Northern hemisphere

There are many differences between stop numbers seven and eight on the Championship Tour, however one thing linking the two is swell. The swell that pulsed on the last day of the Tahiti Pro will hit El Salvador on the first day of the Surf City Pro.

That's right, competitors will be surfing the same swell that pushed them to the limits on Finals Day in Teahupoo, with it continuing onwards, now set to strike Central America six days later on the first day of the waiting period.

It’ll be much smaller and less consistent but we’re expecting to see infrequent sets building to 4-6ft during the opening day of the waiting period with morning offshores ahead of afternoon sea breezes.

The swell should start easing into day two with the outlook for the rest of the waiting period being a bit smaller and slower.

Fortunately, Punta Roca has a wide open swell window, so even if there isn't a significant storm crossing its path, background swell energy is usually enough to tick things over. As a trend, that energy looks to ebb and flow between 3-4ft through the waiting period - though a touch smaller through the middle of next week.

On smaller days, Punta Roca simply breaks closer to the rocks (WSL/Ryder)

What’s of most interest is deepening instability along the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) just south of El Salvador, with an infeed of strengthening south-southwest winds over the weekend and into next week likely to add some localised mid-period S/SW swell to the mix. 

This will create a mix of swells, which, if it were a beachbreak, might make for great wedges and peaks, however Punta Roca wants clean, uniform lines. Therefore, surfers can expect a bit of surface wobble if/when those south-southwest winds kick up over the weekend.

The ITCZ might also start to influence local winds and conditions through the waiting period depending on how the instability evolves and how close it gets to the mainland. We'll watch that development closely.

Being a long pointbreak, Punta Roca prefers clean lines of swell (WSL)

With this in mind it looks likely that they’ll get surfing under way tonight (opening day), less likely into day two thanks to freshening easterly winds (read: devil winds).

The weekend will be cleaner with more variable wind, but smaller and slower, long-range swells.

The next notable long-range groundswell is due next Thursday with it likely reaching 3-5 feet, mixed in with the more local mid-period south-southwest swell energy.

The 2023 contest had windows of good conditions (WSL/Diz)

It’s worth noting that the day after the end of the waiting period, we’re looking at a large, building south-southwest groundswell thanks to the formation of a significant storm to the south-east of New Zealand later this week. Strong 6 foot surf is expected, but unfortunately it'll arrive too late for competition.

So in short, despite the swell connection with Tahiti, the Surf City Pro doesn't share the same forecast. There’ll be no shortage of swell - in fact sometimes there'll be a mix of swells - but it's the local winds that organisers will be paying most attention to.