Friendly Beaches Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you: the next couple of weeks are pretty quiet on the surfing front around Friendly Beaches. We’ve got a few pulses of energy, but nothing that’s going to get your heart racing too hard until we get a bit further out. The water temp is pretty much where you’d expect it to be for this time of year.

The window kicks off on Tuesday the 4th, and honestly, it’s flat as a tack. We’re looking at a weak 2ft of swell from the NNE with a short 6-second period. There’s barely any energy in the water (61), and those clean conditions are just teasing us because there’s nothing to surf. Wednesday the 5th is a bit more of the same, a touch more push but still tiny and weak.

Thursday the 6th is where the first real sign of life shows up. A light offshore breeze early bumps the swell to 5ft from the ESE with a period of 9 seconds. The energy jumps to a moderate 328, and it’s clean. It’s not big, but it’s surfable and the conditions are tidy. That’s probably your best bet for the early part of the week.

Friday the 7th and Saturday the 8th are a letdown again – weak, short-period slop with poor winds on the Friday afternoon. Then Sunday the 9th gets messy: the swell jumps to 7-7ft from the NNE, but it’s a onshore cross-shore mess with moderate breeze, and the energy is there (463) but the quality is zero. This is definitely a paddle-off, maybe more of a kitesurf day if you’re into that.

Monday the 10th has a clean morning with a moderate offshore, but the 5ft NNE swell is a bit jumbled. It’s okay, but not a standout.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Tuesday the 11th of August – mark it down. The swell pumps up to a solid 10ft from the N, with a strong energy reading of 1171. The wind is light and cross-off, so it looks clean, but this is a lot of water. 10ft is only for experts. This break is exposed and can handle it, but it’s going to be big, powerful, and not for the faint of heart. The guidance even says it’s too big for this spot, so be careful. That’s a standout for the crew who know what they’re doing.

After that, things back off quickly. Wednesday the 12th and Thursday the 13th are back to small, though Thursday the 13th has a long-period 17-second groundswell from the S at just 2ft, which will be clean and glassy but tiny. Then Thursday afternoon the 13th throws another 10ft bomb from the S – again, a big, clean wall, but again, that’s expert-only territory.

The second week (from the 15th onward) looks like a slow, steady run of moderate, mid-period swells from the E, mostly in the 5ft to 8ft range. The energy picks up into the 600s and even 1300s on the 15th, but the winds are mostly cross or cross-off and the periods are around 9-11 seconds. It’s not going to be epic, but there might be some rideable, if slightly lumpy, waves on the 15th and 16th. The 17th has a stronger cross-off breeze, which might make it a bit bumpy.

So, the takeaway? If you’re a competent surfer, the two big days are Tuesday the 11th and Thursday the 13th in the morning and afternoon. They are big, raw, and powerful – think 10ft of clean swell. For everyone else, Thursday the 6th is your clean, manageable day. The rest is a waiting game.

Rusty out.

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