Coastguard Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you: it's a tough stretch ahead for Coastguard Beach. Over the next 16 days, there's really only a sniff of something just about surfable right at the very end, and even that's nothing to write home about. For the first two weeks, you're looking at a long, frustrating gap with nothing worth paddling out for.

Let's run through it. From Saturday the 12th of September all the way through to pretty much the end of the following week, it's a write-off. Tiny little wind slop, mostly under 2 ft, with short, weak periods under 8 seconds. The wave energy is pitiful, with readings down around the 10 to 47 mark (weak energy). On top of that, the wind is almost always cross, cross-on, or onshore, making it choppy and messy. There's one brief moment on Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th where it goes clean with a light cross-offshore breeze, but the swell is barely 2 ft with a 12-second period on the Friday – that long-period groundswell at that size won't even show at a beach break like this. Too much paddle for nothing.

Then we get into a proper gale-force mess from the 22nd through to the 25th. Winds howling 28 to 44 mph, swell bumps up to 3 ft but it's completely blown out and dangerous. Not for surfing.

The only day that even gets a mention is Saturday the 26th of September. The morning shows some hope: a 3 ft swell from the east at 7 seconds, but with a clean, cross-offshore breeze from the north-northwest. Wave energy ticks up to 88 (still weak to moderate). That's about as good as it gets here. The afternoon gets messy again though. Then Sunday the 27th of September morning has a 3 ft east swell with a longer 11-second period and a clean cross-offshore from the southwest. The energy jumps to 254 (moderate). That's the only real window of cleanish, surfable waves across the whole 16 days. But don't kid yourself – this is still "poor surf conditions" by swell standards and the break is exposed to that east swell with a cross-off wind. It'll be a long way from epic.

Given the constant onshore and cross-shore winds, and the small, weak swell for most of it, this setup looks a whole lot more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The consistent, consistent crowds here are "sometimes" a thing, but honestly, you won't have to worry about anyone else out there with you for 99% of this forecast.

That's the tough news. It's a long blank run for Coastguard Beach. Forecasts can change, but as it stands, keep your board in the car for a while longer.

Rusty.

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