Back Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. It's a bit of a tricky outlook for Back Beach. The whole 16-day window is dominated by one long, powerful swell train, but it's mostly too big and messy for a good paddle. You'll have to pick your moments carefully.

Let's start with the pattern. The swell is coming in from the southwest, and it's big. There's serious wave energy on offer, often in the thousands, like the massive 2924 (moderate to strong energy) kicking off Saturday morning. The problem is the wind. For the first week, it's nearly always onshore or cross-onshore, or just too strong, making most of it a write-off. There's about a week of surf you can mostly forget about before a couple of clean-up days show up. The water temp anomaly isn't mentioned here, so we'll call it about average for the time of year.

The first real chance isn't until Wednesday the 16th. The morning has a moderate offshore breeze from the NNE at 12 mph. That'll clean up a solid 6 ft of WSW groundswell (period 14 seconds). It's an excellent call for experienced surfers, with energy at 1159 (moderate). This long-period groundswell will suit the exposed setup of Back Beach. Then Wednesday afternoon gets even better – glassy conditions with a slight southerly breeze and a still-solid 5 ft swell (energy 826, moderate). The waves will be clean and well-shaped, though with that 14-second period, expect some lulls between sets.

After Wednesday, the wind turns ugly again. Strong onshore Friday the 18th, then another massive pulse hits Saturday the 19th with an 12 ft swell (energy 5445, very strong) but onshore wind. That's far too big for most and dangerous in the wind.

For the true standout, look to Sunday the 20th. The morning is a beauty. A moderate NE offshore at 12 mph will groom a 8 ft WSW groundswell (period 13 seconds, energy 1968, strong). It's an excellent call for experienced surfers again. Back Beach will be handling that size with clean, powerful lines. If you're good, that Sunday morning is the pick of the whole forecast.

The following week (from the 21st onwards) sees more massive, blown-out swell, though Thursday the 24th has a very long period 17-second groundswell hitting 8 ft, but it's blown out by fresh S winds. Keep an eye on the charts, but as of now, it's more of the same. No beginners should be out there this fortnight; the swell rarely dips below 5 ft and is often over 8 ft. You'll need your wits about you.

Stay safe.

Rusty

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