Haubush Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, I’m Rusty. Let me tell you how it’s looking for Haubush over the next couple of weeks, and I gotta be straight with you – it’s a grim stretch of forecast for this reef setup. The good news? There’s barely any good news, but we’ll work through it.

Right now, through Sunday the 16th of August, it’s a mess. We’ve got a thunderstorm threat on Sunday morning with a strong 25 mph cross-onshore wind from the SE and a lumpy 12 ft swell coming out of the ESE at 9 seconds. The combined energy is a meaty 2273, but with that wind, it’s just a churned-up, poor surf zone. Not even worth paddling out. Sunday afternoon is slightly better, with the wind dropping to 15 mph, but it’s still cross-onshore and the swell drops to 6 ft, still messy. Forget it.

Monday the 17th through to Wednesday the 19th of August is a dead zone. Swell drops right back to around 2 ft to 3 ft, but the wind is a fresh cross-shore from the ENE at 15-20 mph, creating lumpy cross-chop. The combined energy falls into the hundreds (max 789), but it’s surf of very little consequence and poor quality. Not a single wave worth getting out of bed for.

Now, there’s a tiny flicker on Thursday the 20th of August. The morning is still marginal – cross-onshore light breeze at 6 mph, 2 ft swell from the SW with a long 18-second period. That’s a groundswell with some reach, but the wind is still on it. However, Thursday afternoon sees the wind go glassy – 3 mph from the E, dead calm. The swell is still only 2 ft from the SW at 17 seconds, and the combined energy is 385 – weak, but glassy means clean. It’s not big, but for a reef like Haubush, a long period SW groundswell with glassy conditions could offer a small, clean wave. This is the one true standout in the whole 16 days. It won’t be powerful, but it’ll be rideable and pretty. The water temp is about 81°F – that’s close to normal for this time of year, so no surprises there. Crowds are often here, so expect company even for small waves.

Friday the 21st of August mornings and afternoons are marginal again – 3 ft from the SSW at 16-17 seconds, with light onshore winds. It’s not clean, but not total junk. Still, not worth a special trip.

Then from Saturday the 22nd of August right through to the end of the forecast, it turns into a relentless wall of fresh cross-shore winds from the ENE. Swell slowly builds, but the wind never lets up. By Sunday the 23rd, we see 2 ft at 15 seconds, but ENE winds at 22 mph – just messy. Later in the week, around Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th of August, the swell picks up to 7 ft from the E at 8 seconds – short-period stuff – but the cross-shore wind is still 15-20 mph. That’s lumpy, bumpy, and unappealing for a paddle surfer. With that amount of wind and size, it looks more interesting for kite surfing than a standard surf session. The combined energy climbs into the 800-1200 range, but the wind kills it.

The very end of the period, Sunday the 30th and Monday the 31st of August, sees swell drop back to 4 ft from the E at 13 seconds, and ENE winds are 12 mph but still cross-shore. It’s marginal at best. The energy is still over 1000, but there’s no clean window.

So here’s the deal: the only real window for something clean is Thursday afternoon the 20th of August. A small, glassy SW groundswell at Haubush. It won’t be epic, but it’ll be the best of a bad bunch. Everything else is either blown out or just too small to care about. Keep an eye on the forecast, though – it tends not to stay this poor for long.

Rusty.

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