Hilton Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let's get into it. The next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for any real surf, so keep your expectations low. There’s nothing on the horizon that’s going to have you calling in sick for work. It’s a classic run of small, messy, onshore slop, with maybe a brief pulse of slightly bigger, but still junky, swell right at the end of the month.

The only spot with anything on offer is Hilton (Hilton_2), a reef and jetty set-up that’s pretty inconsistent at the best of times. It’s an exposed spot, and it’s looking like a bit of a desert out there. The water is sitting at 85°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year – not a bad thing when you’re just bobbing around waiting for a wave that isn’t coming.

We kick off on Thursday the 27th. It’s tiny, with a 2ft swell from the WNW, and the 5 km/h WSW breeze is making it cross-on. It’s pretty junky, but there are some ripples on the surface. Not worth paddling out for.

Friday the 28th is smaller still, just 1ft from the NW, but the morning does go glassy with a light W breeze. It’s clean-looking, but there’s just no energy. You’d be sitting out there waiting for nothing. A longboard and a lot of patience is the only option.

The weekend kicks up a little. Saturday the 29th sees the swell climb to 2ft from the WNW, but the wind swings around to the SW at 12 mph and then WSW at 16 mph. This stirs up a cross-chop and makes it properly messy. It’s a struggle, not a surf. The energy is still weak, sitting at 56 in the morning and 91 in the afternoon.

Sunday the 30th is the most interesting day of the whole period, but it’s still not good. The swell jumps to 6ft from the WNW, with an 8-second period and the combined energy reading a moderate 460. That’s the biggest we’ll see. But, and it’s a big but, the onshore W wind is blowing at 16 mph, making it choppy and hard work. At 6ft, it’s getting too big for beginners, and with the onshore wind, it’s just a messy, lumpy, powerful closeout. Honestly, it looks more like a session for the kite surfers than us paddle surfers.

Monday the 31st backs right off again, down to 4ft from the NW, with a light SSW cross-breeze. It’s still poor, just an average, small, cross-shore day.

After that, the outlook is bleak. Tuesday the 1st drops to 3ft, and for the next week and a half, we’re stuck with nothing but 1ft to 2ft swells. The wind is mostly cross-on or onshore, with a few glassy mornings thrown in – like the 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th – but even those lack any real power. The periods are short, between 5 and 6 seconds, so there’s no push or shape to anything. The energy is consistently weak, reading between 8 and 33 for most of that time.

So, to be straight with you, there is nothing worth getting excited about. The only slight highlight is that pulse on the 30th, but the wind ruins it. Beyond that, it’s a flat, bumpy spell. For a spot that’s this inconsistent, a run like this isn’t totally abnormal. It tends not to stay this bad for long, and forecasts can change, so we keep the hope alive. But for now, my board’s staying in the car.

Rusty

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