81st Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty.

Look, I’m gonna level with you—this stretch of the next couple of weeks ain’t exactly pumping for 81st Street. We’ve got a long, drawn-out flat spell on the cards before a big pulse of energy shows up right at the tail end of the window. Patience is key, because there ain’t much else on offer.

The first real session worth paddling out for doesn’t show its face until Monday the 21st. Through the 16th to the 20th, we’re looking at tiny, poor surf with not a lot of push—mostly below 1.0m and chopped up with onshore winds. You’d be fighting a losing battle.

Come Monday the 21st, we finally get a bit of a window. It’s small—0.6m from the ESE—but the morning is looking clean with a light offshore (W) breeze. It’s surfable, but nothing special. That theme carries through Tuesday morning when we get 0.9m from ENE and a clean, light cross-off S wind. Still on the weak side, but you can get a few.

Wednesday the 23rd is probably your best early shout. It’s tiny—0.8 to 0.9m—but we’ve got glassy conditions with next to no wind, and the swell direction (ENE) lines up okay. The combined energy is only moderate (89 on Wednesday morning), so it’s not a grunty day, just clean and cruisy. Thursday morning also looks clean with 0.7m ESE and a light cross-off SSW. These few days are the highlights of the first week—small, but clean and fun.

Then we shut down again. From the 25th through the 28th, the energy drops right back out, waves shrink to 0.2–0.4m with the wind shifting around and mostly onshore, so honestly, not worth the drive. It’s a proper dead spell for the back half of September.

But hold on—things change dramatically at the end of the month. On Wednesday the 30th, the swell comes up in a big way. The morning shows 2.4m from the ESE, but it’s already pushing onshore. The real story is the afternoon when it jumps to 3.5m from the ESE with a 10-second period. The combined energy readings go through the roof—2149—which is massive, and the guidance flags that while the wind and tide are good, this is just way too big for this break. This is a serious, heavy dose of ocean. If you’re not an expert, stay well clear. Honestly, at 3.5m on the face, this is a lineup for chargers only.

On the 1st of October, the swell backs down a touch—2.4m in the morning, 1.8m in the afternoon—but we’ve got a fresh 30 km/h cross-onshore NE wind making it lumpy and poor. It’s not worth the paddle-out.

So, what’s the call? The standout for sheer size and power is definitely the 30th of September afternoon, but it’s too big for this break and the conditions aren’t clean. If you want a chance, you ride the 21st through the 23rd—that’s your clean, small window. For the rest, you’re just waiting for that big pulse to pass.

Oh, and the water’s at 26°—that’s much warmer than normal for this time of year. It’s a proper tropical bath out there.

Rusty out.

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