Fare Left Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Hey folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into it. This forecast is all about one spot: Fare Left. It’s a reef break that only works for advanced surfers, and it’s fairly consistent. The water is sitting at 80°, which is bang on average for this time of year, so nothing unusual there.

The first few days are a write-off. Saturday the 18th is a mess – cross winds and a lumpy cross-chop on a 6ft south swell (energy 1332). Not worth paddling out. Sunday the 19th cleans up a bit with cross-offshore winds, but the swell jumps to 10ft (energy 2318) – that’s big, expert-only territory. Monday the 20th is where things start to get interesting. The swell drops to 6ft but the period jumps to a massive 22 seconds (energy 5194). That’s a very long period groundswell, which means waves with heaps of energy and long lulls between sets. For a reef like Fare Left, that’s a dream, but the wind is a moderate cross-offshore breeze, so it’s not glassy. Still, those conditions from Monday morning through to Wednesday afternoon are the clear standouts. The swell sits around 7ft to 8ft from the SSW, with periods from 17 to 19 seconds, and fresh offshore winds from the east on Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. That’s clean, powerful, and lined up. It’s a bit big for beginners, but for advanced crew, this is the pick of the whole forecast.

After Wednesday, the swell slowly backs off. Thursday the 23rd still has decent 7ft SSW swell with 16-second period, but the wind goes cross-offshore. By Friday the 24th, the swell drops to 5ft and the period shortens, plus there’s a risk of thunderstorms. The following weekend, Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th, things get smaller (4ft to 6ft) but the wind goes light and offshore, giving clean, smaller waves. That’s a good option for a more relaxed session.

The second week, from Monday the 27th onward, the swell keeps fading. The 28th through the 30th sees small but clean conditions with offshore winds, and the period hangs around 11 to 17 seconds. The energy drops to between 325 and 752. It’s still surfable, but nothing to get too excited about. The run into August starts very clean on the 1st with a 3ft swell and 15-second period (energy 761), but the wind picks up. Then on Sunday the 2nd, a new pulse of 6ft SSW swell with 14-15 second period rolls in, but it’s cross-offshore winds, so it’s not as clean as the earlier standout window.

The best of the best is without doubt Monday the 20th through Wednesday the 22nd. That long-period SSW groundswell with offshore winds is the kind of window you clear your schedule for. Fair warning: Fare Left can get crowded sometimes, so get there early.

Rusty.

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