Skeleton Bay / Donkey Bay

Best Surf Season (April - September)

This is the heart of the Skeleton Bay year. During the southern autumn and winter, the subantarctic storm track shifts north and fires repeated extratropical cyclones into the South Atlantic. The average swell height climbs to 1.4-1.5m (4.6-4.9ft), while the average period sits in the generous 12.2-12.8s band. That is the engine room of the famous Namibian sandbar. The direction rose still points overwhelmingly to the SSW-SW quadrant, but those long-period south-western groundswells wrap efficiently into the NW-facing beach, and with the wind blowing offshore from the S, SSE, SSW and SW for 47-55 percent of the time, the waves groom into clean, hollow, reeling lines. Water temperatures cool to 12.9-14.2°C, but the consistency and quality more than make up for the extra rubber.