Cape Paterson Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a proper look at what’s coming our way for Cape Paterson. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, and we’ll have to be patient.

Look, for the next couple of weeks, we’ve got some serious size on the cards, but the wind is going to be a major headache for most of it. The water’s sitting at about 57°, which is a touch warmer than usual for this time of year – not a huge deal, but you might notice the difference. The first real chance of anything that’s worth getting wet for, based on the clean conditions and the swell, is shaping up for Tuesday the 8th of September.

The real standout in this whole run is Cape Paterson. It is a sheltered, advanced spot, and it only breaks fairly consistently. Don’t expect a perfect wave every day. The best window we’ve got is on Tuesday the 8th of September. In the morning we’re looking at a 5ft swell from the SW, but the wind will be light and offshore from the ESE. That’s going to make for some clean, smooth faces. The swell energy is moderate at 898, and with a long 14-second period, the waves will have some real punch and shape to them. This is your best bet for a proper session. Later that afternoon the wind picks up, but the morning session is where it’s at.

Leading up to that, we’ve got a lot of noise. Right from Friday the 28th of August, we’ve got a 6ft swell but with a messy cross-shore wind that has it looking like a washing machine. The same story goes for the weekend and into the start of next week – size is there, but the wind is just ruining it. We get a big jump in size around the 4th and 5th of September, with 10ft to 15ft waves, but the wind is sadly blowing straight onshore or across it, making it a complete write-off for a standard paddle board. With that size and those winds, it’s looking more like a kite-surfing zone than a surfer’s paradise.

Later on, around Friday the 11th of September, there’s another pulse of energy. The morning brings a 7ft swell with clean offshore winds from the NNW – that's promising. But the real eye-catcher is the Friday afternoon with a 10ft swell from the WSW and an 18-second period. That’s a massive, very long-period groundswell. The energy reading is through the roof at 6421. It’ll be hard to handle. That size is strictly for the experts, and at a beach-and-reef set-up, that long-period swell can make the waves break a bit too straight. It’s one to watch, but you need to know what you’re doing.

So, to sum it up: there’s a lot of angry ocean out there for the first 10 days. The real window for a clean, fun, manageable surf is that Tuesday morning on the 8th. The Friday the 11th has potential for the big guns, but it’s a more dangerous game.

Stay safe out there.

Rusty.

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