Ballina North Wall Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here, and I’ve got the outlook for Ballina North Wall. It’s a point and breakwater setup that needs an east-northeasterly swell to really light up, but while there’s swell on the way, the winds are going to make things tricky over the next two weeks. The water temperature is sitting at 68°, which is pretty much average for this time of year – nothing to write home about, but not uncomfortable.

Let’s start with what’s in the water. For the next few days, we’re looking at small, short-period ENE swell around 3 ft to 4 ft, but the wind is mostly cross-off or cross-onshore, so the surface is going to be messy or just ordinary. There’s no standout session here – it’s all very average. The combined swell energy (106) on the morning of the 23rd is weak, and that sets the tone for the next several days: weak energy, poor conditions.

The best chance you’ve got comes on Friday the 28th. Early morning, there’s a glassy clean surface with a little 3 ft SSE swell (243 combined energy – moderate) and absolutely no wind. That’s the one bright spot in the first week. Get out there at first light if you can, because by the afternoon it’s onshore rubbish.

After that, the outlook gets grim again. The week from the 29th of August through to the 7th of September is just one poor forecast after another – mostly cross or cross-onshore winds, small weak swell, and combined energy bouncing between 98 and 283 but with the wrong wind direction ruining any quality. There are long gaps here with no real recommendation. You’ll be waiting days between anything remotely surfable.

The 1st of September morning has some clean cross-off conditions and a 3 ft ENE swell (182 combined energy), but it’s still ordinary surf at best. Nothing gets over a 1 out of 10 in the guidance. Honestly, for the whole 16-day run, the only true standout is that Friday 28th morning session. Everything else is a write-off for paddle surfing. If you’re determined, you could try the 28th early, otherwise, it’s looking like a long dry spell. Keep an eye on the charts though – it tends not to stay this poor forever.

Rusty.

Read more