Church Cove Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, let’s have a look at what’s on offer for Church Cove over the next couple of weeks.

To be honest, for the first week and a half, it’s pretty grim. We’re looking at a long stretch of poor surf conditions from the start of the period on Monday the 24th of August, right through until the end of the first week of September. There’s a gap of about nine days where there’s nothing worth paddling out for. The wind is mostly cross-off or onshore and strong, and the swell is either too small or too messy, or just straight-up blown out. The water temperature is currently 65°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s not helping the waves.

Now, the first real flicker of hope shows up on Wednesday morning, the 2nd of September. The wind swings around to a light cross-offshore from the NNE at 9 mph, and the swell comes in at 6 ft from the west with a period of 8 seconds. The combined energy is moderate at 483. This is the first clean-looking window, and while it’s not a world-class day, it’s the best we’ve seen in a while. The break is inconsistent, so you’ll need to be patient. It’s a fairly exposed beginner-friendly spot, so don’t expect a heavy crew, but it can get crowded sometimes.

The standout, though, comes on Wednesday afternoon, the 2nd of September. The wind stays light and cross-off from the north at 9 mph, keeping the waves clean. The swell bumps up to 7 ft from the west, with a period of 8 seconds, and the combined energy jumps to 594. That’s moderate but solid energy. The water is still clean. Keep in mind, this is still an inconsistent spot, and it’s a fairly exposed beginner break, so the size might be a bit much for total beginners – 7 ft is pushing it for the less experienced. For the rest of us, it’s the best on offer.

After that, Thursday the 3rd of September morning sees a drop in size to 4 ft with light cross-off winds, but it’s just ordinary. Then we’re back into a long run of poor surf with onshore winds and choppy conditions all the way through to the 8th of September. That Tuesday morning, the 8th of September, sees a massive 13 ft west-southwest swell with a 16-second period – that’s very long period groundswell. The combined energy is a whopping 8865, which is very strong energy. But the wind is onshore and it’s just too big and messy for this break. The afternoon of the same day has an 12 ft swell with a 15-second period, and the energy is 4954, but the wind is onshore and the forecast says the swell is predicted to be too big for this break. That’s for experts only, if anyone’s crazy enough to try it.

So, in short: the best of a poor bunch is the Wednesday afternoon, the 2nd of September. Keep your eyes on that window. The rest of the 16 days is mostly a blank.

Rusty.

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