18th St Surf Report & Ideal Conditions
See your personalized forecast for 18th St
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Download LazySurfer →Best conditions for 18th St
18th St is most often good on a 2–4 ft medium-period (8–16s) swell from the S, with light wind from the W, on a high incoming tide — the conditions LazySurfer surfers have logged and rated highest across the surrounding region.
| Ideal wave height | 2–4 ft |
| Ideal period | medium-period (8–16s) |
| Best swell direction | S |
| Best wind | light wind from the W |
| Best tide | high & incoming |
These best-conditions estimates come from real sessions LazySurfer users rated highly at this break — not an editorial guess (high-confidence read). In the app, LazySurfer's custom deep-learning model predicts your own 1–5★ rating at about 90% exact-match accuracy (97.6% within one star). How LazySurfer works →
Current conditions
Latest reading from the nearest NOAA buoys (UTC 2026-08-26 10:00 UTC). LazySurfer reads this same public NDBC data directly — no proprietary smoothing. New to buoy data? See how to read a NOAA buoy.
| Wave height | 2.0 ft |
| Dominant period | 3s |
| Swell direction | W (279°) |
| Wave buoy | NDBC station 44091 (56 mi away) |
| Wind | 3 kt from the WSW — NDBC JCRN4 (20 mi away) |
18th St 7-day surf forecast
Model wave & wind outlook for 18th St from NOAA's GEFS-Wave model, refreshed daily. Heights are open-water swell (face heights at the break are typically larger).
| Day | Swell height | Period & direction | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed Aug 26 | 1–2 ft | 9s ESE | 14 kt S |
| Thu Aug 27 | 3 ft | 7s SE | 16 kt S |
| Fri Aug 28 | 2–3 ft | 7s SE | 9 kt W |
| Sat Aug 29 | 2–3 ft | 6s ESE | 13 kt ENE |
| Sun Aug 30 | 2 ft | 8s SE | 16 kt SSW |
| Mon Aug 31 | 2 ft | 7s SE | 13 kt SW |
| Tue Sep 1 | 2 ft | 6s SSE | 14 kt WSW |
Tide
Predicted tide for the next two days from NOAA station 8534720 (Atlantic City (Ocean)), the nearest tide station (11 mi away). Times local.
- 2026-06-06 06:21 — Low 0.623 ft
- 2026-06-06 12:24 — High 3.324 ft
- 2026-06-06 18:10 — Low 1.034 ft
- 2026-06-07 00:28 — High 4.096 ft
- 2026-06-07 07:03 — Low 0.593 ft
- 2026-06-07 13:11 — High 3.482 ft
Frequently asked
Is 18th St working right now?
As of the latest buoy reading (2026-08-26 10:00 UTC), 18th St is off: the live 0–2 ft short-period swell from the W is off its ideal S direction and is under its usual size, and the wind is light from the SW.
Is 18th St good for beginners?
18th St is best for improving and intermediate surfers — it's most often good on 2–4 ft surf, manageable on its smaller days but a step up from true beginner conditions. Conditions change daily, so always check the live report on this page before paddling out.
What's the best tide for 18th St?
18th St tends to be best on a high incoming tide — the tide stage LazySurfer surfers have rated highest here. Tide changes how the swell breaks, so check the two-day tide chart on this page for today's high and low times.
What swell direction is best for 18th St?
The best swell direction for 18th St is from the south (S). Swell arriving from the south lines up best with how this break faces, which is when LazySurfer surfers have rated it highest.
What's the best wind for 18th St?
18th St is most often good with light wind from the west (W) — the wind LazySurfer surfers logged on their best-rated sessions here. Wind direction grooms or chops the wave face, so check the live report for current wind.
Where does LazySurfer's surf data for 18th St come from?
LazySurfer reads public data directly from NOAA's National Data Buoy Center and the National Weather Service — the nearest NDBC wave buoy (station 44091) and the nearest NOAA tide station (Atlantic City (Ocean)). The same raw readings NOAA publishes, with no proprietary smoothing.
Does LazySurfer predict whether 18th St is good for me?
Yes. LazySurfer trains a custom deep-learning model — a PyTorch neural network with per-user embeddings, retrained weekly on real logged surf sessions from the LazySurfer community — to predict the 1-to-5 star rating you personally would give, rather than a single average rating for everyone.
Nearby spots
- 14th Street — 0 mi
- 9th St — 1 mi
- 30th St — 1 mi
- 5th St — 2 mi
- 1st St — 2 mi
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