57th Street Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, I’m Rusty, and I’ve been staring at the charts for our stretch of coast. Look, I’ll be straight with you – we’re in a flat spell for a solid stretch here. The next proper surf worth paddling out for doesn’t show up until Saturday the 22nd of August, and even then, it’s not going to have you calling in sick.

Right now, and for most of the coming week, we are dealing with tiny, weak waves. The water at 57th Street is sitting at a warm 77°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year – nice for a swim, not so nice for the lack of waves. From Sunday the 16th through to Friday the 21st, it’s all gutless. We’re talking ankle-snappers with swell under 3 ft, short periods around 4 to 7 seconds, and generally poor conditions. Winds are messy on Sunday, with a 16 mph southerly making things choppy. It cleans up a bit on Monday with a light offshore, but the swell’s too weak to care about. The combined wave energy is mostly in the low double digits (21), which tells you there’s nothing doing.

A glimmer appears on Saturday morning the 22nd. That’s the first day with anything resembling a wave. Swell pushes up to 3 ft from the east-northeast, with the energy jumping to 106 – moderate, but at least it’s something. Winds are a gentle NNE breeze at 9 mph, giving us a clean look. Still, the waves are only described as “surfable but very ordinary.” It’s a sandbar break, fairly consistent, but the 3 ft from the ENE is a touch off the optimum SE direction, so it won’t be its best. It’s a beginner-friendly spot, and with only small, clean surf, it’s fine for a paddle if you’re desperate.

The next real standout, if you can call it that, is Thursday morning the 27th. We get another little pulse – 3 ft from the east-northeast again, but this time the energy reads 157, which is moderate. What makes it better is the wind: light northerlies at 6 mph, cross-offshore, keeping the surface clean. It’s another “surfable but very ordinary” call, but with light winds and a slightly longer-period swell (6 seconds), it’s probably the best of a bad bunch. The same afternoon sees a drop to 2 ft but with a longer 11-second period from the SE, which lines up better with the optimum. Light cross-offshore winds make for clean conditions, but the size is tiny.

Overall, don’t set your alarm. The biggest problem is the lack of any decent swell size over 3 ft for almost the entire 16-day window. There’s no big stand-out wave, no juice. If the wind is kind and you just want to get wet, the cleanest mornings with the most energy are Saturday the 22nd and Thursday the 27th. For the rest, it’s a flat, quiet stretch. Crowds aren’t really an issue because there’s nothing to crowd.

Stay patient, mate. It’s a funny time of year.

– Rusty

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