Damneck Naval Base Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. Gotta be straight with ya – the next couple of weeks at Damneck Naval Base are lookin' pretty grim. We're talking a whole lot of flat, blown-out, and just plain ordinary conditions. It's a rough stretch, but let's walk through it.

Right now, Thursday the 16th kicks things off with a tiny 1.0ft south-southeast wind swell. The wind is howling cross-shore at 12 mph, so it's a messy cross-chop. The combined energy is a weak 20 – nothin' doing. The water is sitting at 78°, which is bang on average for this time of year, so at least that's comfortable.

Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th are even worse – swell drops to 0.7ft. The winds are all over the place, from light cross-on to a cross-off, but the wave energy is basically non-existent. Don't even bother.

We finally get a sniff of something on Sunday the 19th morning. The swell picks up to 2ft from the SSE, and we get a solid offshore wind from the SW at 16 mph. The combined energy is 48 (still weak), but the conditions are clean. The rating only calls it "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions," so it's not a standout, but it's the best of a bad lot so far. The afternoon gets wrecked by a 22 mph north cross-wind, making it lumpy.

Monday the 20th through Wednesday the 22nd is a write-off. Swell is tiny, winds are messy, and we've got risks of thunderstorms. The waves are just poor.

Now, Thursday the 23rd of July sees a jump in swell size to 4ft, but it's a short-period 5-second onshore wind swell from the NE. The combined energy is moderate (129), but it's being hammered by a 19 mph NE onshore wind. The files say "poor surf conditions," and I agree – it's gonna be a messy, choppy shorebreak.

Friday the 24th is a bit better. The swell drops a touch to 4ft, but the wind switches to a clean cross-off from the SSW at 9 mph. The combined energy is still moderate (117), and the files call it "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions." There's a chance of a few clean, shapeless wedges. The offshore wind is a plus, but the swell period is still a short 6 seconds, so it's not gonna have much punch.

Finally, Saturday the 25th morning offers a glimmer. The swell is 2ft from the ESE at 8 seconds, the combined energy is 100 (weak), but the wind is dead calm – glassy! The files call it "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions." It's not a standout, but if you're desperate, a glassy morning on a tiny wave is better than nothing. The afternoon gets a cross-wind, ruining it.

After that, from Sunday the 26th through to the end of the month on the 31st, it's back to tiny, weak swells (1.0ft to 2ft) with mostly offshore or clean winds, but the wave energy is in the teens and twenties. The files consistently say "poor surf conditions." There's not a single decent wave to get excited about.

So, the honest truth? There's no real standout here. The best on offer is probably the clean conditions on Sunday the 19th morning, or the glassy 2ft on Saturday the 25th morning. For a beginner, those 2ft to 2ft clean days are the only ones that are even rideable, but they're not good. For anyone else, this is a two-week period to leave the board in the car and find something else to do. The setup is too weak and short-period for any quality. It's a blank run, plain and simple.

Rusty.

Read more