Bethune Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get real. The forecast for the next 16 days around Bethune Beach is a rough stretch. There’s no decent surf to speak of for the first week, and the second week doesn’t get much better. It’s a long gap of small, weak, and messy conditions. The swell is tiny, the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, and the energy is just not there. You might get a couple of windows that are rideable, but you’ll have to be patient.

We start on Tuesday the 8th of September. The afternoon is a total wipeout. There’s a tiny 3ft swell from the NE, but it’s short period at 7 seconds, and the wind is blowing straight onshore from the ENE at 9 mph. The combined energy is a weak 100, and the water temp is a warm 84°, which is about average for this time of year. It’s poor.

Wednesday the 9th and Thursday the 10th are more of the same. Small swell, cross-shore winds, and poor conditions. The best of a bad lot might be Thursday morning the 10th: a 3ft ENE swell, period still short at 7 seconds, but the wind is a light cross-off from the SSE at just 3 mph, making it clean. The energy is low at 79. It’s surfable, but it’s very ordinary. That’s the highest score in the whole run.

Friday the 11th morning is similar: 1ft from the ESE, 8-second period, light cross-off wind from the south at 6 mph. Clean, but tiny. The energy is only 45. After that, it drops off again. The weekend is a washout with small, messy waves and onshore junk.

Then, on Monday the 14th, there’s a glimmer. The morning is glassy, with a light southerly breeze at 3 mph, and a 2ft E swell with a 9-second period. The combined energy is 41. It’s clean, but the swell is so small it’s hardly worth paddling out for. It’s surfable, but you won’t be bragging about it.

The rest of the second week is a painful decline. From the 15th onward, the swell stays under 2ft, the period collapses to 5 or 6 seconds, and the wind is either onshore or cross-onshore. The energy readings drop into the teens and twenties. There is a moment on the 19th where the period jumps to 12 seconds, but the swell is only 0.7ft, so it’s not doing anything. The whole setup is more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing, with the wind building and the waves staying flat.

The standout, if you can call it that, is the early morning of Thursday the 10th and Monday the 14th. Even then, it’s not a standout in the usual sense. It’s just the least bad of a very poor run. For a beginner, the size is fine, but the inconsistency and lack of energy mean you’ll be sitting there waiting a long time between nothing sets.

Rusty.

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