Coombesgate Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, it’s Rusty here. Let’s get straight into it. So, the news is not great for Coombesgate Beach. This bank of beach and reef is taking a beating through most of the next couple of weeks, and the outlook is pretty grim for us.

We start off on Saturday the 12th, and straight away it’s a write-off. That 7ft WSW swell has a period of only 7 seconds, so it’s short and messy, and the wind is honking from the SW at 25 mph, cross-onshore. Combined energy is moderate at 392, but it’s just a lumpy, blown-out mess. Water temp is sitting at 65°F which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, but that doesn’t help the wave quality.

Sunday the 13th and Monday the 14th are similar stories – moderate W and WSW swells, but always that cross-onshore wind, keeping the surface choppy. Sizes drop to around 3ft to 4ft, but the quality is just poor.

Come Tuesday the 15th, the wind finally clocks offshore from the WNW. The swell is a 5ft W swell, but it’s still got that short, weak period of 7 seconds. It looks very weak with combined energy at 189. Wednesday the 16th sees the best sized swell of the whole window, with a 5ft W swell and a longer 8-second period, giving a strong wave energy reading of 607. Wind is offshore, but all this swell produces is still described as “poor surf conditions”. It just doesn’t seem to be holding any shape.

Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th roll on, with winds staying offshore but onshore late Friday. The swell is weak, under 5ft, and the period is poor.

The second week really goes quiet. Into the weekend of the 19th and 20th, we get a few more pulses of W and WSW swell around 5ft to 6ft, but the wind is a fresh to strong breeze, keeping things messy. From the 21st onwards, the wave energy crashes right down. Monday morning the 21st has a tiny 4ft W swell with a period of 7 seconds and energy of just 112. Then it gets worse. There’s a several-day gap of tiny, nearly flat conditions from the 22nd through to the 27th of September, with swell dropping from 2ft down to just 0.7ft.

Things look clean at the very end, on Thursday the 24th and Friday the 25th. On Thursday we get moderate offshore winds from the SE, making it glassy, but the swell is a pathetic 0.7ft to 1ft. On Friday the 25th, we get a cleaner W groundswell with a period of 10 seconds and fresh offshore winds, but it’s still only 1ft. It’s flat and clean.

Even though a few days have offshore wind, the swell never comes together with the right quality. For most of this run, the onshore winds and short-period swell mean this exposed beach-and-reef setup looks much more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. Don’t hold your breath.

Rusty.

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