Dolphinarium Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you: the next couple of weeks at Dolphinarium are about as exciting as watching paint dry. There’s a real flat spell on the cards, so if you’re hanging for a wave, you’ll need to be patient. The water’s sitting at 86° which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, so it’ll feel like a bath, but the surf just isn’t cooperating.

We’re looking at a solid run of poor conditions right through the middle of September. From the 15th to the 18th, there’s basically nothing doing. The swell is tiny, under 2ft, with weak energy, and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, messing up any chance of a clean surface. Thursday the 17th has a moment of glassy conditions in the morning, but the swell energy is so weak (16) it’s barely a ripple. This is a stretch where you’d be better off finding another hobby.

Then there’s a slight tease on Saturday the 19th. The morning glass-off arrives with a little more swell, around 3ft from the WNW, with the energy climbing to 77. It’s surfable, but honestly, it’s very ordinary – not the kind of thing you’d skip work for. The afternoon gets chopped up again by a cross-onshore breeze, so that window is tight. We then slide back into another flat and wind-affected spell for several days. The 20th through to the 24th sees swell drop back down to the 1ft to 3ft range with weak to moderate energy, and the winds are mostly onshore or cross-onshore. A few glassy mornings are scattered in there, like the 22nd and 24th, but there just isn’t enough swell to make the most of them.

Things start to shift around Thursday the 24th. The afternoon sees the energy jump to 146, with a building swell to 3ft from the WNW. It’s still showing as poor, but you can feel something stirring. The real standout, such as it is, arrives on Friday the 25th. The morning has a glassy surface, a clean 4ft of WNW swell, and the energy is up to 166 – moderate wave energy, the best we’ve seen. The period is a short 8 seconds, so it’s not going to be packing a huge punch, but with that offshore and clean morning, this is the pick of the fortnight. It’s still only a 1/10 on the overall quality, but for this stretch, it’s as good as it gets. The afternoon gets blown out by an onshore breeze, so get out early.

The weekend of the 26th and 27th holds onto some size, around 3ft to 4ft, but the winds are not your friend, with cross-onshore and onshore winds making things choppy. Not worth the paddle. After that, we fade back out into the weak and wind-affected junk through the end of September and into the 30th. There’s a couple of glassy morning windows, but the swell is just too small and weak to get excited about.

So, bottom line: mark your calendar for Friday the 25th. Early morning, head to Dolphinarium (this local sub-region). You’ll find a clean, glassy surface with a 4ft WNW swell and moderate energy (166). It’s a beginner-friendly break, so that size will be fine, but don’t expect any barrels. The rest of the fortnight is a write-off – bring a book.

Rusty.

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