Devonport Rivermouth Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, mate, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – this 16-day window for Devonport Rivermouth is a rough one. I’ve looked at it, and honestly, there’s nothing I’d call a standout good surf session. The swell is mostly messy, and the wind is constantly working against us.

The picture starts with a pulse of energy, but it's no good for a paddle. Sunday the 12th sees a 7ft to 8ft NW swell rolling in, with a short period of 8 seconds, so it’s lumpy and weak. With a 19 mph cross-wind, it’s just a blown-out mess. The combined energy is moderate (534-865), but the wind kills it. Monday the 13th is even worse – 10ft of NW swell, but with a 22 mph cross-wind, it’s too big for beginners and only for experts, yet the conditions are so poor it’s not worth it. The chart shows “poor surf conditions” and scores of 0/10.

After that, we hit a long flat spell. From Tuesday the 14th, the swell drops fast. A 4ft WNW swell on Tuesday morning is the last gasp, but it’s still cross-off and only 7 seconds period. The combined energy drops to 287, and the score is a 1/10. By Wednesday the 15th, we’re down to 1.0ft, and that’s it for days. The water temp is 56°, which is about normal for the time of year, so no surprises there.

There’s a gap of almost a full week with no real surf. From the 15th to the 19th, it’s just tiny, weak pulses – 1.0ft, 0.7ft, even 0.3ft for a few days. The swell period gets long, 15-20 seconds, but with no height, it’s just a glassy flat lake. There’s a moment on Sunday the 19th with glassy conditions, but the swell is 0.7ft, so it’s a complete non-event.

The next blip comes on Monday the 20th, with a 6ft NW swell, but it’s back to a short 6-second period, and a 12 mph cross-wind. The combined energy is 299, but it’s still rated “poor surf conditions.” After that, it’s back to tiny stuff – 1ft on the 21st, then nothing. The very end of the window, on Friday the 24th, shows a 6ft NNW swell, but again, 19 mph cross-winds and a 6-second period, just a messy chop.

The break itself is a point/river setup, but it's inconsistent and rarely breaks well. The crowd is sometimes there, but with this forecast, you won’t see anyone. The optimum swell is from the NW, and we get that, but the wind is always cross or cross-off, never clean offshore. For a river mouth, any long-period swell over 15 seconds can make it break too straight, but we don’t even have that height to worry about.

If you were a kite surfer, the 10ft days on the 13th with strong cross-winds might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer, it’s a hard no. The forecast confidence is good for the first week, but there’s nothing to be confident about.

Rusty.

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