Clovelly Bombie Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ll be straight with you – the next week or so is a bit of a struggle for surf around here. The good news is there’s a real standout window coming up, but you’ll need some patience.

The first real sniff of anything worth paddling out for is on Wednesday, 19 August. The morning at Clovelly Bombie (reef) will be clean with glassy conditions and a light SW wind, but the swell is tiny at 2ft from the ESE with a short period of 10 seconds. The combined swell energy is a weak 168, so it’s really just a small, clean, ordinary wave. Not bad for a longboard if you’re desperate, but nothing to get excited about.

Thursday morning, 20 August, is a similar story. A clean 3ft ESE swell (7-second period), with light north winds offering a cross-off breeze. Still, the combined energy is only 87, so it’s small and weak. The same goes for Friday morning, 21 August – glassy, 3ft from the E, period of 6 seconds, energy of 51. It’s surfable, but only just.

Now, here’s the real deal. If you can hold on until Thursday, 27 August, the outlook changes dramatically. The morning brings a 5ft SSE swell (9-second period) with a clean cross-off wind from the NNW – combined energy of 333, which is a solid moderate push. But the standout is Thursday afternoon: a 5ft SSE swell, period of 9 seconds, 12 mph offshore wind from the WSW, and combined energy jumping to 401. That’s moderate-to-strong energy, and the offshore wind will make the reef at Clovelly Bombie clean and powerful. This is the best of the first week.

The absolute best on offer, though, is Friday, 28 August. Early morning, you’ll find glassy conditions with a 5ft SE swell (10-second period) and a combined energy of 505 – that’s strong wave energy. The wind is dead calm, glassy, and the swell direction is a good match for the break’s optimum ENE. This is a proper groundswell, and for a reef, that’s a beautiful thing. The only catch is that Friday afternoon sees the wind swing cross-shore, so the morning session is the one to chase.

After that, it drops off again. Saturday and Sunday, 29-30 August, are back to small, weak, and choppy. Not worth getting out of bed for.

So to wrap it up: the week ahead is mostly flat or small and clean, but not worth the effort. The standout is Thursday afternoon, 27 August, through to Friday morning, 28 August. The Friday morning glass-off with 5ft of SE groundswell and 505 energy is the pick of the entire 16-day window. The water temperature is 61°F, which is a bit colder than normal for this time of year – about 3°F below average, so you’ll want a decent wetsuit.

Stay patient, and don’t waste your energy on the small stuff. That Friday morning glass-off is the one.

Rusty.

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