Depressions Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on offer for the Depressions stretch.

Well, I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough one. The whole 16-day window is a real struggle. The water temperature is sitting at 71°, which is a whopping 8° warmer than usual for this time of year, so it’s feeling more like a bath than a proper autumn session. But the waves? They just aren’t cooperating.

There’s really no standout session in this entire outlook. The scores across the board are low, with most windows showing poor surf conditions. We start off with a bit of a tease on Sunday the 13th with a 3ft swell from the WNW, but it’s only an 8-second period and the wind is onshore from the SW at 6 mph. It’s marginal at best, with the combined swell energy sitting at a weak 270. That’s barely a ripple, and the wind is just enough to mess with any chance of a clean face.

Monday the 14th isn’t much different. Morning brings a similar 4ft WNW swell with a 9-second period, but again, that onshore wind keeps things messy. The energy is still weak at 272. The afternoon drops back to 3ft. Honestly, it’s not worth paddling out for.

From Tuesday the 15th onward, the swell drops away fast. We’re looking at 3ft or less for the rest of the run, and the period jumps around but the size just isn't there. The combined energy stays under 300, mostly in the low to mid 200s, which is weak. The wind is often cross-on or onshore, so the conditions are choppy or just flat and sloppy.

You’ll notice a bit of a bump in the combined energy around Saturday the 20th, hitting 373 and then 407 in the afternoon, but that’s on a 2ft swell from the SW at 18 seconds. That’s a long period, sure, but there’s just not enough height to make it work. The wind is cross-on and picking up to 12 mph in the afternoon, so it’s just messy. That pattern holds through to the end of the month: small, weak swell, with onshore or cross-on winds. Nothing comes together.

For a beginner-friendly spot that is fairly consistent, the complete lack of any decent window is a bummer. This is one of those stretches where you’re better off leaving the boards in the garage. There are long gaps here – basically the whole 16 days is one big gap of no real recommendations. The surf just isn’t on.

The best I can say is, if you had to pick the least-bad moment, it would be the morning of Sunday the 13th, but even that’s a stretch. The setup here, with the onshore winds and small, weak swell, would be more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer, to be honest.

Keep an eye on the forecasts, because it can’t stay this poor forever. But for now, I’d find something else to do.

Rusty.

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