Broken Head Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’m gonna level with you—this stretch of August is a real mixed bag for us at Broken Head. We’ve got a long run of pretty ordinary conditions before we finally see a flicker of something worthwhile. Patience is the name of the game.

The water temp is sitting around 68.4°, pretty much what you’d expect for this time of year, nothing wild there.

We kick off with the first real chance on Thursday the 13th of August. The afternoon’s got clean 1.6 ft easterly swell but the wind’s a cross-off from the SSE at 12 mph. It’s small and the energy is weak (52), so it’s really just a knee-high dribbler with not much push.

That theme carries on through Friday the 14th morning—some clean 1.6 ft stuff with a nice offshore SW breeze at 12 mph, but again, it’s tiny and the energy’s low (46). The afternoon drops even smaller to 1.3 ft. Saturday the 15th is similar, small and messy, with a bump in wind to 16 mph on the arvo making it pretty ordinary.

Now Sunday the 16th, we get a bit of a kick. The morning sees 5.9 ft southerly swell, but it’s short-period at 7 seconds and the wind is cross-off. The energy jumps to moderate (382), but the quality is only marginal. This is more of a choppy power-wash than a clean wave. Sunday arvo is similar at 5.6 ft.

Monday the 17th and Tuesday the 18th are bigger again—6.9 ft of SE swell, still short period (8 sec), with strong energy numbers (over 500). But the wind is cross-shore and there’s a cross-chop, making it pretty messy. For the experienced crew, there’s some grunt there, but for the average surfer, it’s gonna be tough. This is more of a kite-surfing setup, honestly.

Then we finally get a little window. Wednesday the 19th of August morning, the swell drops to 3.6 ft from the ENE, period stays short at 7 seconds, but the wind eases to a light SSE cross-off at 6 mph. Conditions are clean and the energy is moderate (269). It’s not epic, but it’s surfable and a step up from the junk we’ve been dealing with.

The real standout is Friday the 21st of August morning. We’ve got 4.6 ft of ENE swell, 8-second period, and *glassy* conditions—a light SSW breeze at just 3 mph. The energy is moderate (293) and the wind is dead calm. This is the cleanest, most inviting surf in the whole outlook. The swell direction is also right on the money for Broken Head’s optimum ENE. It’s a point break that’s fairly consistent and can get crowded, so expect company. This is the morning to be out there.

Things go downhill again on the arvo and into the weekend, with onshore winds and choppy conditions. We get another small pulse on Sunday the 23rd morning with 3.6 ft ENE swell and a gentle offshore SW breeze at 9 mph. It’s clean but unremarkable.

The last week dries up quickly. From Monday the 24th onward, the swell drops below 3 ft, energy fades to weak numbers, and we’re back to tiny, poor conditions. There’s a slight bump on Friday the 28th afternoon—5.2 ft SSE swell with a long 12-second period (groundswell), energy spikes up to 690, but the wind is a cross-onshore from the east, making it choppy and poor. The long period means it’ll be a bit wonky at the beach, but here at the point, it might have some shape—shame about the wind.

Overall, don’t hold your breath for the first week. Your best bet is that glassy Friday the 21st morning. After that, it’s a long slow fade into smaller stuff. Keep your eyes on the charts, because it tends not to stay poor for long around here.

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