Happys Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, and I’ve got a look at the surf for you. Let’s be straight with it – this is a tough run, and it’s going to be a long wait for anything that’s really worth paddling out for.

The overall picture for Happys (a sheltered point break, and the only spot on the cards here) is pretty grim for a solid week and a half. The water is sitting at 68.9°F, which is a bit colder than normal for this time of year, so you’ll want the rubber. But the main problem is the wind and the swell quality. For the first week, from Sunday the 5th through to about Friday the 10th, we are dealing with persistent fresh breezes out of the SSE and S, creating messy, lumpy, cross-shore chop. The swell is there – hitting 5.9ft to 7.9ft – but it’s short-period windswell (6 to 8 seconds) and the combined energy, while it gets up to 651 later on Monday, is all messy. It’s just not shaping up. The conditions are rated poor, and honestly, unless you’re a masochist, it’s not worth it.

There’s a bit of a gap in decent surf here. From Sunday the 5th right through to the morning of Saturday the 11th, there’s nothing recommended. That’s a six-day stretch of junk. Finally, on the morning of Saturday the 11th, we get a small window. The swell drops to 3.3ft from the SE with a better 11-second period, and the wind swings to a light cross-offshore from the SSW. The combined energy is weak at 224, but it will be clean. It’s still just ordinary surf, though – nothing to get excited about.

The next real standout? You’ll have to wait a full week for this. The morning of Saturday the 18th of July is the one to circle on the calendar. We finally get a proper long-period groundswell, 3.9ft from the SE with a very long 14-second period. The combined energy is a moderate 596, so there’s some push behind it. With a slight air and cross-offshore wind from the NW, it’s going to be glassy clean. This is the pick of the whole forecast. Keep in mind, it’s a point break, and that long-period swell (over 15 seconds is considered very long, and this is close) means the waves will have real shape and power, but the sets will be wider apart. For a point break like Happys, that’s a good thing. It will be a proper session, but remember this is a long-range call, so it’s promising but not a dead cert yet. Expect crowds here to be possible.

The afternoons after that look like they get chopped up again, and the surf fades out through the rest of the 16-day window. It’s not a great run, but that Saturday morning of the 18th offers a genuine taste of quality. Hang in there.

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