Back Strands Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Right, let’s have a proper look at what’s on the table for Back Strands over the next couple of weeks. It’s a bit of a slow burner, but there’s a real gem hiding in the second week if you can hold your nerve.

For the first week, honestly, it’s a bit of a frustrating watch. The swell is hanging around, but the wind just won’t play ball. We’ve got small to moderate WNW swells, with wave heights mostly sitting between 3 ft and 7 ft, and the combined energy is often in the low to moderate range (between 99 and 1236). The trouble is, we’re dealing with cross-onshore and onshore winds for most of it, making things choppy and messy. You’ll get a cleaner look here and there, like Thursday morning with a clean cross-off breeze, but the swell is tiny at 3 ft, so it’s barely worth the paddle. Even Saturday the 12th sees a proper jump in size with a 6 ft to 7 ft WNW groundswell (12-13 second period) and strong wave energy, but the winds are all wrong—cross-off then onshore—so it’s a write-off.

There’s a decent gap of poor conditions here. After that Saturday, the surf drops back to small, unexciting waves until the real action shows up.

Now, if you can wait, the standout window is Wednesday the 23rd of September. This is the one to circle on the calendar. We get a solid 8 ft WNW groundswell rolling in, with a period of 12 seconds. That’s proper groundswell energy, and the combined energy jumps to a strong 1881. The best part? The wind goes light offshore from the ESE in the morning, cleaning things up beautifully. By the afternoon, it goes glassy. This is prime Back Strands. For experienced surfers, this will be the session of the forecast. The swell direction (WNW) is a good match for the break’s preferred W direction, and the long period will give it some real power, though at a beach-reef setup like this, watch for it to stand up a bit straight.

Before that, Monday the 21st of September morning offers a decent little tune-up. A 3 ft WNW swell with a 12-second period and light offshore cross-off wind from the east gives clean, workable waves. Nothing huge, but a nice, clean option to get a few.

Don’t bother with the first week unless you’re desperate for a paddle in bumpy, onshore conditions. The water temperature is about average for this time of year, so no dramas there. The real call is that Wednesday the 23rd. Be patient.

Rusty.

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