Doura Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ll be straight with you – the next couple of weeks at Doura are a proper mixed bag, and you’re gonna have to be patient. There’s nothing that’s going to blow your mind, but there are a few windows where it cleans up enough to be worth a paddle. The water’s sitting at 73°F, which is pretty much bang on average for this time of year, so no surprises there.

The main issue is that for most of this run, the swell is small and the wind is wrong. The first few days, from Friday the 24th through to the end of July, are pretty grim. You’ve got a tiny 3ft to 5ft of weak, short-period WNW to NW windswell, and while the wind is often cross-off or even glassy at times, the wave energy is just too low to get excited about – we’re looking at numbers like 94 to 204 (weak to moderate energy). It’s surfable, but it’s very ordinary. The best of that early stretch is probably Monday morning the 27th: 4ft of NW swell with glassy conditions and a period of 8 seconds. It’s small, but it’ll be clean. The water temp anomaly is only -0.3°F, so nothing unusual there.

Then we hit a rough patch. From Tuesday the 28th through to the end of the month, the swell drops right off to 0.7ft to 2ft, and the wind is a mess of cross and cross-on. The combined energy plummets to between 17 and 83 (very weak). There’s nothing worth chasing.

The first real standout comes on Saturday the 1st of August. The morning shows a 4ft swell from the WNW, with a 9-second period and a light cross-off breeze. The combined energy jumps to 221 (moderate). It’s still not huge, but it’s the first sign of life. The wind is clean, and the river mouth setup at Doura (a river break) can handle that NW direction well. It’s a fairly consistent spot, but it’s an advanced wave, so leave the beginners on the beach. Crowds are sometimes an issue here, so you might have some company.

The week that follows is up and down, but the best on offer by a long shot is the morning of Thursday the 6th of August. That’s your standout. The forecast shows 4ft of NW swell, with a period of 11 seconds, and the combined energy is a solid 399 (strong). The wind is a light cross-off from the NNW, keeping things clean. This is a proper groundswell pulse, and the longer period means better shaped waves with more energy. At a river break like Doura, that longer period should wrap in nicely. The water is still average temp, and the break is fairly consistent. Just be aware, it’s an advanced wave, and with that size, it’ll be pushing it for anyone not experienced.

Towards the end of the run, the morning of Friday the 7th and Saturday the 8th offer clean 4ft to 4ft waves with cross-off winds, but the energy is lower (188 to 281) and the period has dropped back to 8 seconds, so it’s not as punchy. They’re surfable, but nothing special.

Overall, the diamond in the rough is Thursday the 6th of August morning. Get on it if you can. For the rest, it’s mostly a waiting game.

Rusty.

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