August is the top of the temperature curve and the bottom of nothing. The sea peaks at 17°C, which is nine degrees above February and still cold enough that a 4/3 is not optional, and the summer pattern of small, frequent, undemanding waves carries on through most of the month.
What makes August worth watching is its last two weeks. The North Atlantic starts producing again before the summer ends on land, so the final days of the month can deliver a proper swell onto water that is still at its annual maximum and beaches that are still warm. That overlap is short and it is the best combination Ireland offers all year, for anybody able to move their dates late.
It is also the busiest month on the coast, which in Ireland means the car park at Lahinch is full and the line-up has fifteen people in it.
