Church Cove Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, surfers, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you. The next couple of weeks are looking pretty average for our stretch of coast, with only a couple of moments that might get the heart racing. We've got a lot of lumpy, cross-shore slop to wade through before we see anything clean.

The first real chance for a wave comes this Thursday morning, the 20th. There's some solid swell in the water, around 7ft, but it's coming from the west with a fresh 19 mph cross-breeze that's just going to chop it all up. It's got some moderate energy to it (813), but it's going to be a fight. The afternoon bumps up a bit to 8ft, but the wind is still on it, making it a bit of a mess. Nothing worth getting too excited about, just a lot of water moving around.

We're then looking at a bit of a drought. Friday sees the swell drop right off, and the wind goes cross-offshore, but the waves just get too small. Saturday is similar, with clean conditions but tiny, weak surf – a real tease. Then from Sunday the 23rd through to Tuesday the 26th, the swell just about dies. We're talking ankle-snappers with hardly any energy behind them (the combined energy is in the weak 30-100 range). There are some clean mornings in there, but with essentially nothing to ride, it's not worth paddling out for. That's a solid four-day stretch of flatness to get through.

Things finally start to wake up on Wednesday the 26th. A new SW swell fills in, but the wind swings onshore and it gets lumpy and poor. The energy is moderate (556), but it's just not organised. Thursday the 27th has a little bit of swell (4ft) but the onshore wind continues to ruin it. By Friday the 28th, the wind is howling from the west, ramping up to a near gale in the afternoon with heavy rain. The waves are there, around 7ft, but it will be completely blown out. That looks far more interesting for the kite crew than us paddle surfers.

Now, for the one true standout in this whole period. Check out the forecast for Saturday morning, the 29th. We're looking at 8ft of west-northwest swell with a fresh cross-shore breeze. Now, the wind isn't perfect, but the size and energy (1528 – a big step up) should make Church Cove (this is our Region_URL) start to show its character. It's a long period swell of 8 seconds, so it's not a groundswell, but the size will be there. The morning session is the one to target before the wind shifts more onshore in the afternoon and the size drops. Remember, this spot is inconsistent, so when it does get a pulse like this, it can be worth the wait. With 8ft, this is only for experienced surfers; it's too much for beginners.

After that burst, the swell backs off a bit for the following week, but the winds stay messy. There's a bigger pulse scheduled for the morning of Monday, the 31st, with 12ft of west swell and strong energy (2834), but the wind is howling straight onshore at 19 mph. That's a full-on, expert-only, blown-out mess. We get a cleaner shot on Tuesday morning, the 1st of September, with the swell dropping to 6ft and a gentle cross-shore breeze. It won't be epic, but it looks like the most rideable option in that second week. The rest of that week just trails off into smaller, wind-affected surf.

So, to sum it up: the standout window is early Saturday morning, the 29th, for the bigger, more powerful swell. If that doesn't materialise, the best of a bad bunch looks like Tuesday morning, the 1st of September, when the wind finally eases. Everything else is either too small, too messy, or too blown out. It's a waiting game.

Rusty, out.

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