Coxos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ at Coxos.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with ya – it’s a pretty bleak run here for the next week and a half. The opening days are mostly a write-off. We’ve got a long gap of pretty ordinary conditions before anything worth paddling out for shows up.

We start on Thursday the 3rd with a small 3ft swell from the NNW, but that cross-shore wind from the NNE at 6 mph just kills it. It’s messy and weak with low energy. Friday the 4th afternoon is the first tiny glimmer. The swell drops to 2ft from the WNW, but the wind goes glassy. It’s surfable, but the wave state is just very ordinary. Saturday and Sunday are no good either – mostly onshore or cross-on breezes picking up and the swell gets lumpy. Sunday the 6th morning sees a bigger pulse of swell, 4ft from the NNW with a period of 12 seconds and some moderate energy, but that cross-on wind ruins it.

Through all of the first week and into the second, we get battered by consistent fresh breezes, mostly from the N and NNW, keeping the ocean chopped up and lumpy. Swell sizes hover between 3ft to 7ft, but it’s just poor. By Tuesday the 8th afternoon, we’ve got a 7ft swell from the NNW, but the wind is a fresh 22 mph cross-on. That’s expert-only territory for size, but the conditions would be so blown out it’s not even worth the drive. Honestly, for a reef like Coxos, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing right now.

Then, finally, a light at the end of the tunnel. The standout window hits on Sunday the 13th of September. We wake up to a glassy morning with light airs from the WNW. The swell is a clean 3ft, but the period jumps to a very long 16 seconds. That’s a groundswell with serious energy. This will be a proper, powerful, long-period northwesterly pulse. At a reef like Coxos, which loves that NNW direction, this could be special. The water temp is a normal 69° for this time of year. Just keep in mind, with a period that long, the sets will be clean and powerful, with longer gaps between them – great for paddling out, but you’ll want to be patient in the water. That glassy morning on the 13th is the pick of the whole forecast. After that, conditions start to degrade again with onshore winds returning.

A couple of other slightly better windows pop up, but they’re not standouts. Tuesday the 15th morning is glassy again with a 4ft swell (NNW), but the period is a short 8 seconds, making for less exciting, weaker waves.

So, the takeaway: suffer through the first week and a half. The only true standout is Sunday, the 13th of September, early morning at Coxos. It won't be huge, but that glassy, long-period groundswell hitting the reef just right is a beautiful thing.

Rusty out.

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