Plettenberg Bay • Statistics for January

January: High Summer's Bumpy Trade-Off

January is midsummer in Plettenberg Bay, and the ocean is caught between lingering Southern Ocean groundswell and a persistent E/ESE/SE sea breeze. The average swell height is 2.0m (6.5ft) with an average period of 10.9s, so there is still plenty of long-period push, but the wind is ideal for surfing only 39% of the time. The dominant swell directions are SSW (31.6%) and SW (20.6%), with S adding another 14.4%, meaning the bulk of the energy has to wrap west-to-east to reach this stretch. Directly aligned ESE and SE swell makes up under 10% of the total, and when it does show up it often arrives with onshore E/ESE winds. Expect cleanest conditions on the dawn patrol before the thermal east wind builds, with fun, rippable waves in the head-high range from the better SSW pulses. Air temperatures sit around 20.7°C, water temperatures peak at 20.4°C, and precipitation is a modest 1.25 mm/day - classic warm-water summer surfing if you can pick the early windows.