Westbrook • Statistics for January

January: Summer Doldrums and Onshore Easterly Drone

January is the heart of summer on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, and Westbrook is stuck in the doldrums. The average swell height sits around 5ft (1.6m) with a middling 8.9s period - enough to make the bank work, but rarely with any long-period punch. The wave rose is actually full of the right angles: E 22.8%, ESE 18.7%, SE 16.7% and SSE 17.2% all feed directly into the east-southeast-facing beach. The problem is wind. NE and ENE together account for 35.9% of observations, with SSW/S adding another 26.6%, while true offshore W/WNW/NW/NNW flow is only 2.4% - matching the 14% ideal-surf statistic. That means most of the 3-6ft (1-2m) swell is chopped up by cross-shore or onshore breeze. Keep an eye on the Mozambique Channel: a tropical low down there can still throw a clean 6-8ft (1.8-2.4m) E/ESE groundswell, but you need a rare west wind to make Westbrook truly shine. Water temp 25.3°C, air 24.4°C, rainfall 2.94 mm/day.