Ballina North Wall Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking for Ballina North Wall over the next couple of weeks.

Honestly, the next week is a bit of a grind. We’ve got a run of small, weak swell with a lot of ordinary conditions. The first proper chance to get wet doesn’t really show until Wednesday 26 August. That morning, the wind goes glassy, dead calm, and we’ve got a clean 4ft swell from the ENE with 8 second period. The combined energy is moderate (215), but the real winner is that glassy surface. It’ll be a bit fat and slow for a point/breakwater, but at least it’s rideable and clean. That's the best bet in the first week.

After that, there’s a little stretch through the end of August where the wind is mostly cross or cross-off, but the swell picks up a bit. On Sunday 30 August, the swell hits 5–6ft, but it’s short-period (7 seconds) and the wind is howling at 19 mph, making it a choppy mess. That’s more kite-surfing territory than paddle surfing, to be honest.

Then, the real standout shows up on Tuesday 1 September. Another glassy morning with no wind, 4ft swell from the east, 9-second period, and moderate to strong energy (225). It’s not huge, but conditions will be clean and lined-up, and a point/breakwater like this loves that east swell direction—it matches the optimum ENE nicely. This is the best session of the whole outlook: small, clean, and workable. If you can pick that morning, do it. But note, the afternoon gets choppy with the NE sea breeze, so it’s a morning mission.

Crowds at Ballina North Wall can pop up sometimes, but on those glassy mornings with only small, clean surf, the crowd tends to be mellow. Temperature-wise, the water is sitting about average for this time of year, so nothing unusual to report there.

The second week fades back into small surf with average conditions. Nothing else really jumps out as a must-surf. The window from 31 August to 4 September has a couple of glassy or light-offshore windows but the swell drops to 3–3ft and the energy is weaker. You’d be scraping for waves.

In short: Wednesday 26 August morning and Tuesday 1 September morning are your two windows. Tuesday 1 September takes the prize for the best combination of clean surface and moderate energy.

Rusty, signing off.

Read more