Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Today at Praia de São Rafael: Good for kayaking — 79/100 for expert level. Wind 5 kn W · Tide -0.9 to 0.2 m. Best window around 10:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Praia de São Rafael: 0.5m waves with light cross-shore wind. Kite Foiling looks Epic! in the midday, with Wing Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 19°C / 66°F.
Forecast updated · ShorSense™
Today plus the next two days are free for everyone — scored in 3-hour windows, just like the app. The full 8-day forecast lives in the 4Shor app.
Praia de São Rafael faces S. For kayaking how much swell and wind that aspect keeps out matters more than the open-water forecast.
Today's wind is cross-shore at 5 kn. Light enough that the surface should stay workable for kayaking.
Over the published window Praia de São Rafael clears 60/100 for kayaking at every ability from Beginner to Expert — an unusually broad spot, which normally means a range of conditions rather than one narrow sweet spot. Today, 11 of 11 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Praia de São Rafael ranks 14th for kayaking. The order changes by discipline: the same conditions that put a spot top for one sport can drop it down the list for another.
Satellite-derived bathymetry with 10 m pixels and 10 cm vertical resolution out to ~40 m depth. The shape of the seabed is what determines where and how waves break.
Most apps run a single global model at 9–25 km. We blend regional NWP from national meteorological offices at 1.3–2 km — UK Met Office UKV, Météo-France AROME HD, ItaliaMeteo ICON-2I — with ECMWF IFS for the 8-day horizon. Finer resolution means the sea breeze, cliff funnelling and bay shadowing that changes everything for a session.
A nearshore wave model propagates the spectrum across the bathymetric mesh — modelling refraction, shoaling, dissipation, focusing and breaking as it goes. Most apps stop at swell + wind. We go further.
10 sport models × 4 ability levels weight wave height, period, wind, tide and breaking conditions differently — calibrated against ridden sessions so the scores mean what they say.
A sheltered cove beach enclosed by golden limestone cliffs with arches and sea caves, a headland blocking Atlantic swell for calm, clear water. Fine sand runs about 250 metres, with submerged rocks near shore, suited to swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, and SUP, not surfing or wind sports. Blue Flag accredited with seasonal lifeguard cover. Low tide widens the sand and reveals tidal pools; high tide can cover much of it, with rockfall risk near the cliffs.
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Wind at Praia de São Rafael today: 5 kn W (gusting 19 kn). Wind direction relative to the shore affects kayaking conditions significantly — offshore winds produce cleaner, glassier surfaces while onshore winds add chop. These are daily averages; the 4Shor app shows hourly detail.
Waves at Praia de São Rafael today: 0.5 m, 14 s period from E, mushy character. 4Shor derives nearshore wave conditions from ECMWF IFS 9-km atmospheric data and the IBI regional ocean model, updated hourly.
The best window for kayaking at Praia de São Rafael today is around 11:00 UTC, when conditions score 75/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Praia de São Rafael scores 76/100 today for kite foiling — Good. A score of 65–79 is Good for a beginner; 80+ is Excellent (90+ is Epic!); below 45 the session is usually not worth it. 4Shor scores every location across Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert levels.
Praia de São Rafael is scored for Surfing, Windsurfing, Kite Surfing, Kite Foiling, Wing Foiling, E-Foiling, Paddleboarding, Swimming, Kayaking, Canoeing in the 4Shor forecast system. Conditions are rated Beginner through Expert for each sport, updated every hour, so you always know whether the session is worth the drive.
Praia de São Rafael is a coastal location near Albufeira in Portugal. It is one of more than 2,500 European water-sport locations scored daily by 4Shor.
4Shor's ShorSense™ system combines satellite-derived seafloor mapping, nearshore wave models, wind and tide data to generate a hyper-local forecast. At Praia de São Rafael, conditions are scored hourly on a 0–100 scale for each sport and ability level. A score of 80+ means Excellent (90+ Epic!); 65–79 is Good; below 45 the session is usually not worth the drive.
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