Ballina North Wall Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here, checking in from the local region. Let’s look at what’s headed our way over the next couple of weeks.

The water temperature at Ballina North Wall is sitting at 68°, which is about 1° cooler than normal for this time of year – nothing too wild, just a touch on the fresh side.

The immediate outlook is a bit of a struggle. We’ve got a slow start with no real solid options on Tuesday, lots of cross-onshore chop and short-period SE windswell at 6 ft. The combined energy is moderate at 507, but the period is a short 8 seconds, so the waves are messy and weak. Wednesday sees a bit of a drop in size but the wind is still messy, and the surf is still poor.

The first real standout comes on Thursday, 20th August. The morning session is where it’s at. We’ll have a dropping swell of 5 ft from the ESE with a glassy wind – that’s dead calm, clean as a whistle. The combined energy is moderate at 272, and that offshore wind will have the point breaking nicely. It’s a consistent spot, so take the morning off if you can. The afternoon sees the wind swing onshore from the NE, but the early is the pick.

After that, from Friday right through the middle of the second week, the surf goes flat-lining. The swell drops below 3 ft, and the energy is weak (values between 46 and 123). There are a few mornings with clean conditions – like Saturday 22nd morning with a clean cross-off breeze, and Sunday 23rd morning with glassy conditions – but the waves are tiny, mostly 2 ft to 3 ft. It’s surfable if you’re desperate, but nothing to get excited about. The consistency is still there though, so it’s a waiting game.

The very end of the window, on Wednesday, 2nd September afternoon, we see a spike in the data: a 7 ft SSE swell with a 10-second period and moderate energy of 848. But the wind is a moderate cross-onshore, and the quality is poor. That’s big, unruly, and messy – more for the experts or the kite surfers, not a clean paddle session.

So, the clear standout is Thursday morning, 20th August, at Ballina North Wall. Glassy conditions, head-high ESE swell, and a point break that handles it well. Get amongst it.

Rusty.

Read more