8th Street Jetty Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here, and I’ve gotta be straight with you – the next 16 days at 8th Street Jetty are lookin’ pretty grim for any kind of proper session. There’s nothing really worth paddlin’ out for, so don’t go waxin’ up just yet.

We kick off Wednesday the 26th of August with near-flat, tiny 1 ft SE swell, period around 9 seconds, and weak combined energy (26). Wednesday morning’s glassy as a mirror – dead calm – but the waves are just too small and weak to do anything with. That afternoon, a 12 mph southerly cross-on breeze kicks up a chop, and it stays poor.

Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th are more of the same – tiny dribbles around 1-2 ft, short period, and cross-on winds messin’ it up further. Friday morning does go glassy again with a slight NE breeze, but the swell’s barely there (energy 36). The weekend through to the start of September is a write-off: swell holds at 1.0-1 ft, winds shift around but mostly stay cross-on or cross-shore, and energy stays below 30 most of the time. Monday the 31st of August shows a little clean-up with light WSW cross-off breeze, but the swell is just 1.0 ft – nothin’ to ride.

Then on Tuesday the 1st of September, we get a weird one: swell still tiny at 1.0 ft, but the period jumps to 15 seconds – that’s a super long groundswell. Combined energy is 40, still weak. The morning is glassy, but with no size, all that energy means long waits for tiny little peaks that’ll close out fast on a beach/jetty setup like this. Not worth it for anyone except maybe a longboarder with patience.

Wednesday the 2nd of September is the closest we get to “surfable” – 1 ft SE swell, period 12 seconds, and a light WNW offshore in the morning, with energy climbing to 69. The comment says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” and that’s about right – knee-high, clean but weak. The afternoon gets a little bump with a risk of t-storms, but still only 2 ft.

From Thursday the 3rd through to Wednesday the 10th of September, the swell slowly builds to a peak on the 4th and 5th – we see 3-4 ft from the ENE/E, period around 6-8 seconds, and energy hitting 127 on the 4th morning. That’s moderate wave energy (127), but the problem is it’s short-period junky windswell, and winds are either onshore or cross-on, makin’ it choppy and messy. The 4 ft on Thursday afternoon the 3rd comes with a direct onshore SSE breeze – that’s gonna be a straight-up mess, nothin’ but closeouts. For experts only, and even then it’s not fun.

After that, the swell fades back to 2-1 ft by the 7th and 8th, with some clean-ish windows on the 7th morning thanks to a WSW cross-off, but again, too small. The last day, Thursday the 10th of September morning, shows a brief 3 ft E swell with a 5-second period – that’s super short and weak (energy 48), with a clean cross-off from the north, but it’s a yawn.

Honestly, there’s no standout here. No day where the stars align. The best chance for a paddle would be Wednesday the 2nd of September morning, with that clean offshore and 1 ft long-period groundswell, but you’d be fightin’ for scraps. If you’re desperate and got a longboard, maybe that’s your window. For the rest of us, save the energy.

Rusty.

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