Fortress Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let me give it to you straight about Fortress.

Looking at the whole 16-day outlook, it’s a long haul of mostly flat or ugly conditions. Don’t get your hopes up for the first week or so.

Starting off Monday the 6th of July, it’s a total mess. Heavy rain, fresh to strong cross-onshore winds from the ENE blowing at 21 to 28 mph. There’s some swell, 3 ft to 5 ft, but it’s coming from the ESE with a period of just 4 to 6 seconds. The wave energy is weak to moderate (46 to 161), but the wind has it chopped to pieces. This is kite-surfing weather, not surfing weather. Tuesday the 7th is more of the same—cross-onshore winds and messy waves around 5 ft. Wednesday the 8th is a little lighter with the wind, but the swell drops to 3 ft and it’s still short-period junk.

From Thursday the 9th through to the 12th, we get cleaner conditions with light to moderate cross-offshore breezes, but the swell is tiny—2 ft to 4 ft—and the period is pathetic, mostly 4 to 7 seconds. The energy is weak (48 to 97). For a reef break, you need a lot more push than that. It’s basically flat.

Monday the 13th and Tuesday the 14th see a spike in energy, with 4 ft and 5 ft swell from the SSW and a period of 7 to 8 seconds. The combined energy jumps to 326 and 385. But the wind is cross-onshore again, making it choppy.

The first real chance of something decent doesn’t come until Thursday the 16th of July. We finally get a clean, offshore wind from the WNW blowing at 12 to 15 mph. The swell picks up to 4 ft to 4 ft from the south, with a 5 to 6 second period. Wave energy is moderate (96 to 138). The waves are surfable but nothing special. This pattern of offshore winds and moderate swell holds through Friday the 17th (4 ft, 112 energy) and Saturday the 18th (3 ft, 127 to 130 energy). These are probably the best days on offer, but they’re still not great.

After that, it fades out again. Sunday the 19th onwards is back to small, weak, onshore slop. The 21st of July sees onshore winds and tiny 2 ft swell.

The water temp is 20°, which is pretty much average for this time of year.

Given the crowds here are *often*, you won't be fighting for waves on these weak days, but you won't be wanting to paddle out either.

So, the standout period is from Thursday the 16th to Saturday the 18th of July. The mornings will be your best bet, with clean offshore wind and waves around 3 ft to 4 ft. It’s not firing, but it’s the only window worth even thinking about in this forecast. For the rest of it, save your energy.

Rusty.

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