Clovelly Bombie Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here, and we're looking at a proper mixed bag for Clovelly Bombie over the next couple of weeks. To be straight with you, the first week and a half is pretty grim, but there's a monster on the horizon if you've got the patience and the skill.

The pattern starts off flat and frustrating. From now through to around the 10th of September, we're looking at tiny, weak dribble. Swell heights are barely scraping past 0.7 ft with wave energy in the doldrums. The only real highlight in this stretch is a glassy, clean-looking early Monday morning (7th September) with a WNW breeze at just 3 mph. Still, the swell is only 0.3 ft, so you'd be better off checking the tide pools. There's a long gap of quiet days here with absolutely nothing worth paddling out for.

Things start to stir around Tuesday the 8th and 9th of September as a pulse of moderate energy kicks in. We see SE and SSE swells of 4 ft to 4 ft with periods around 9 to 10 seconds, and the combined energy picks up to a solid moderate range. Tuesday morning is let down by a fresh cross-shore wind (19 mph from the S), making things lumpy. Wednesday morning is cleaner with a cross-off breeze, but the waves are still pretty ordinary. Then Wednesday afternoon gets messy as a strong cross-shore chop rolls in with the swell jumping to 7 ft, which is pushing into expert territory but with terrible conditions.

We then hit another flat, quiet patch from the 10th to the 16th. Swell drops back to under 3 ft, and energy falls through the floor. Saturday morning the 12th of September offers a brief, glassy reprieve with 1 ft of SSE swell at a very long period (18 seconds), but the energy is low, so it's weak. This deepwater groundswell will likely break too straight for Bombie anyway – this reef needs a more east in the angle to really fire.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. From Thursday the 17th of September, we see a significant swell event forecast. The swell cranks up to 12 ft from the SSE, with a long 13-second period and massive wave energy readings in the multiple thousands. This is expert-only, heavy-duty surf and the raw power is undeniable. Thursday morning has a decent cross-off breeze, but with 12 ft of swell, only the most experienced should even consider it. That big pulse hangs around through Friday the 18th (10 ft, 14-second period) and into Saturday the 19th (6 ft to 7 ft).

The absolute standout of the whole outlook, though, is Sunday the 20th of September. The morning is looking pristine. We have a 10 ft SSE swell – big, powerful, and with moderate energy. The wind is forecast to be glassy, from the SSW at just 3 mph. That is dead calm. For a heavy reef like Clovelly Bombie, glassy conditions on a 10 ft swell is a proper, rare treat. This is the pick of the entire 16-day window. The swell direction (SSE) isn't a perfect match for the optimum ENE that Bombie loves, but the size and the glassy wind make it a serious prospect. The afternoon does turn a bit choppy with an onshore breeze, so the morning session on the 20th is the one to circle on your calendar.

Water temp is sitting around 64°F, which is about average for this time of year, so nothing out of the ordinary there.

So, bottom line: the first week and a half is a write-off. But hold out for that Sunday the 20th of September morning session at Clovelly Bombie. It's a big day for big kids only, but it could be special. Keep an eye on the forecasts as we get closer.

Rusty.

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