Banna Strand Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you – this is one of those stretches where the ocean just doesn’t want to play ball. We’re looking at a long, frustrating run of poor surf conditions at Banna Strand, with barely a window worth paddling out for.

The setup is tough. For the first week, from Thursday the 9th right through to the end of the week, it’s a mess. We’ve got a persistent cross-onshore breeze, mostly from the north-west, that’s just chopping everything up. The swell is tiny, mostly under 3 ft, and the wave energy is weak, sitting well under 100 (30-85) for most of it. There’s a brief moment Friday morning the 10th where the swell jumps to 4 ft from the WNW with a longer 11-second period, offering a bit of a longer-period groundswell feel, but the wind is a messy cross-shore and the conditions are rated as marginal. The water temp is sitting at 63°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but it’s not much comfort when the waves are junk.

We then hit a real dead zone. From Saturday the 11th all the way through to Thursday the 16th, the surf is practically non-existent. Swell heights drop to 0.7 ft to 2 ft, and wave energy is pitifully low (25-85). The wind does go offshore or cross-off a few times, which would clean things up, but there’s simply no swell to work with. It’s flat, mate.

The second week doesn’t bring much hope. Around Friday the 17th, we see a pulse of energy come in – 5 ft from the NNW, but it’s a short-period 6-second wind swell, and the cross-onshore wind is back, making for a bumpy, messy surface. The wave energy does climb into the moderate range (214), but the quality is still rated as poor. That pattern repeats through the weekend, with the swell holding around 4 ft to 6 ft, but always with that nasty cross-onshore wind. By Sunday the 19th, the wind picks up to a fresh 22 mph from the NW, and we get a 7 ft swell with a 7-second period. The energy is ramping up (640), but the conditions are described as lumpy and poor. At that size, with that wind, this is looking more like a kite-surfing setup than a paddling one.

The final few days, from Monday the 20th to Thursday the 24th, see the swell size hold between 5 ft and 7 ft, and the energy gets strong, hitting 1338 on the afternoon of the 23rd with a 13-second period from the WNW. But the wind is consistently onshore or cross-onshore, and the conditions are always rated as poor or marginal. There’s no clean, surfable window here.

So, to be honest, there’s no standout day. The best you could hope for is maybe the morning of Friday the 24th, where the wind is cross-shore and the surf is 6 ft from the WNW, but it’s only rated as “marginal”. It’s a grim outlook. Don’t hold your breath.

Rusty.

Read more