East Runton Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on offer for East Runton.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough run. We are looking at a solid 16-day window with basically nothing to get excited about. The whole period is littered with "poor surf conditions" across the board. The best I can say is that we start with absolutely nothing and it stays that way for a good long while. After a couple of weeks, there’s a tiny flicker of life, but it’s a long, dry wait.

The water temp on Monday 24th is sitting at 66°F, which is a whopping 4°F warmer than normal for this time of year. That’s seriously warm, a real anomaly. But unfortunately, that’s about the only good thing going for us, because the surf is totally flat and messy, with a cross-onshore breeze killing any hope.

The first week is a write-off. From Monday 24th right through to the end of August, all we get is small, weak swell (energy values like 42, 28, 98) with cross-shore winds and lumpy, chopped-out conditions. The swell is tiny – never getting over 5ft and that’s with a terrible 6-second period and cross-onshore wind. Not worth paddling out for.

Things go a bit glassy and clean on the morning of Thursday 27th, with a light SSW offshore wind (10 km/h, about 6 mph) and a tiny 2ft swell from the NE. The energy is only 39, so it’s weak, but the wind is right and the waves will be clean. If you’re desperate, you could have a splash, but don’t expect much.

The first week of September is more of the same – clean conditions but no power. A few moments with offshore or glassy wind – like Tuesday 3rd afternoon with the ESE glassy (5 km/h, about 3 mph) and 1ft – but again, the combined energy is in the teens. That’s just not enough to surf on.

Now, here’s the one standout in this whole outlook. It’s a long shot, but look at Tuesday 8th September. We finally get a pulse of energy. The morning has a 4ft swell from the NW with a 5-second period (weak period, messy shape) and a stiff W wind of 30 km/h (about 19 mph), cross-offshore. The combined energy hits 85. Not great. But by the afternoon, it pushes up to 5ft from the NW, period 6 seconds, same W wind, and the energy climbs to 118 – that’s moderate wave energy. It’s still not a classic groundswell, but it’s the biggest and most energetic surf in the entire window. The winds are clean (cross-off), so the waves will have some shape. For East Runton, that’s as good as it gets. It’s 8 days away, so don’t book the trip yet, but keep an eye on it.

Overall, mate, this is a bummer. If the forecast shifts, we might get lucky, but right now, it’s a solid two-week dry spell. For kite surfers, that afternoon on the 8th with the solid wind and some bumpy water might be more interesting than for us paddle folk.

Rusty.

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