Turtle Head • Statistics for July

July: Deep Southwest Monsoon and the Search for a Window

July sits in the heart of the Habagat. The average swell height is 1.1m (3.5ft), and the period drifts up slightly to 7.0 seconds. The directional distribution remains very kind to the spot: SW at 44.7 percent, WSW at 18.5 percent and SSW at 12.2 percent. This is the best seasonal exposure for the beach; if the wind could be moved, this would be a world-class month. But the average period still sits in the short-to-average range, meaning the swell is mostly a product of the same monsoon wind that is blowing right into the coast.

Onshore winds rule the roost, with S (20.9 percent) and SSW (19.6 percent) towers, plus a significant SSE (9.7 percent) contribution. Ideal wind is just 22 percent. The cumulative effect is blown-out, bumpy surf - often with a heavy paddle and dead sections. Rain is intense (13.82 mm/day), and the air/water combo of 26.8°C / 30.3°C feels like a bath. The only saving grace for the dedicated surfer is the occasional lull or offshore land breeze at dawn, or the passing of a typhoon far west that turns the wind north-northeast for a day. Those rare windows can produce surprisingly strong, hollow lefts, but they are short-lived.