Broken Head Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what Broken Head has in store for us over the next couple of weeks. It's a pretty grim run, to be honest. The whole 16-day window is a real mixed bag of small, weak energy and poor conditions, with very little to get excited about.

The water temp is sitting at 68°, which is pretty much what you'd expect for this time of year – nothing unusual there.

We kick things off on Tuesday, August 25th, but there's nothing to ride. Swell sits around 3 ft but it's lumpy and cross-onshore. The energy is weak to moderate (126). It’s a write-off. This continues through Wednesday and Thursday. The swell stays under 4 ft and the wind is either cross or cross-off, keeping it choppy or just ordinary.

Friday morning, August 28th, is the first sign of life. The wind goes glassy out of the SW and the water turns clean. But the swell is tiny, only 2 ft, with weak energy (74). It’s surfable, but you’ll be fighting for knee-high lumps. Not a standout by any stretch. That afternoon, a long period 13-second SSE swell pops in at 1 ft, but the cross-onshore wind ruins it.

The weekend has a bit more size, but it’s not great. Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th bring clean, cross-off winds from the S, with the swell bumping up to 6 ft on Sunday morning. The energy is moderate to strong (710), but the quality is still described as marginal. The swell direction is SSE, which is not the ideal ENE direction for the point. It’ll be chunky and a bit messy, but if you’re desperate, Sunday morning is the pick of this period.

The big talking point is Monday, August 31st. The energy is very strong (1000) and the swell period is a very long 19 seconds from the SSE, with 3 ft to 4 ft of swell. This is serious groundswell energy. The caveat here is that a long period swell of 19 seconds at a point break like Broken Head can be fantastic, but it can also break a bit too straight and wonky. The wind is light and cross-shore, so it won't be perfect, but this is the most powerful and interesting swell of the whole outlook. It’s the only real standout, and even then, it's a marginal call.

Sadly, that’s about it. The first week of September is a slow slide into small, weak, and onshore conditions. Tuesday, September 1st, has a glassy morning with a 3 ft SSE swell (energy 342) but the quality is only rated as good for a beginner spot. Wednesday the 2nd has a similar glassy morning. After that, it’s all cross-onshore wind and tiny surf, barely 3 ft with weak energy, right through to the end of the forecast period on September 9th. The energy levels drop right off, often below 100.

The setup for the small, onshore days at a beach and reef break like this means it’s honestly looking more interesting for a kite session than a paddle surf for most of that second week.

So, to sum it up: if you're a patient surfer, keep an eye on Monday the 31st for that big, long-period groundswell. It'll be powerful and offers the only real hope. The rest of the window is about as flat and blown out as it gets. Stay tuned, forecasts change.

Rusty.

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