Broken Head Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, let’s have a look at Broken Head. The next couple of weeks start messy, but there are a couple of windows where it’ll be worth getting wet.

The first few days are all over the shop. Wednesday starts small and junky, but that afternoon the swell jumps right up – we’re talking 10ft of short-period SSE slop with a fresh cross-offshore breeze. It’s powerful, but messy, and Thursday morning pushes 12ft with a 10-second period. The energy is huge – combined energy readings are up around 2536 – but these are fat, lumpy waves, not clean lined-up ones. It’s more of a washing machine than a point break, so unless you’re a glutton for punishment, sit this one out.

Then Friday morning, things switch. The swell drops to a more manageable 6ft, still from the SSE, but the wind swings light offshore from the SSW. That’s the green light. The water’s sitting at 69°, which is about normal for this time of year. Wave energy is a solid 581 – moderate, but plenty to push you along. This is the first real standout. Broken Head (Byron Bay) will have some proper shape to it, clean faces and a bit of punch. Bigger-than-average, but not out of control.

Saturday morning is a bit of a tease. The swell is down to 3ft, but it’s glassy as – light N wind, clean as a whistle. The energy’s weak (206), so it’ll be small, but if you’re after a cruisy longboard session with zero crowd hassle, this is it. Afternoon though, it fades right out.

The swell nearly dies on Sunday, and Monday is small too, though the morning has a bit of glass on it with 2ft from a very long 18-second period. That’s proper groundswell, but it’s breaking pretty straight at the beach, so don’t expect much of a drive.

Then we hit a lull. Tuesday and Wednesday are pretty ordinary, poor conditions, no real push. The next thing of note is Thursday the 23rd and Friday the 24th – the swell picks back up to 7-8ft, but it’s short-period (8 seconds) and there’s a chance of thunderstorms. Cross-shore winds will chop it up. Not great. The energy is high (1433 on Thursday arvo), but that just means a lot of messy water. It’s that classic “looks big, but ugly” deal.

From the 25th onwards, it’s a bit of a downward slide with a couple of sneaky pulses. Friday the 25th morning has 5ft of short E swell, but it’s cross-onshore, so it’ll be bumpy. Saturday is similar, weaker. Then Sunday the 27th pushes back up to 6ft around dawn, but the ENE cross-onshore breeze will make it choppy. Poor surf conditions all round.

Looking further out into the first week of October – the 28th and 29th – we’ve got 7ft and 5ft of ENE windswell, but with onshore winds. It’s gonna be a mess. The energy is moderate (707), but the quality is not there. There is a morning on the 30th with 5ft ENE and a light cross-on wind, but it’s marginal at best.

So, the honest rundown: the standout window is Friday morning the 18th – that’s your best shot for a proper surf, clean, a decent size, and the conditions lining up. Saturday morning is the backup if you want smaller, cleaner waves. After that, the forecast is a lot of choppy, cross-onshore junk, so you’ll be waiting for the next weather system to clean things up. A couple of possibilities in the second week, but fading confidence.

Rusty out.

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