Honkeys Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, I’m Rusty, and I’ve been staring at the charts for Honkeys (reef) for the next couple of weeks. Gotta be straight with you – it’s a rough stretch. The water temp is sitting about average for this time of year, so no surprises there, but the wind and swell just aren’t lining up.

The pattern is pretty grim. We’re starting with nothing worthwhile right now, and the first real chance of anything surfable doesn’t pop up until Monday the 17th, and even then it’s marginal. From now until then, we’re looking at a solid 3-day gap with no recommendations. The whole 16-day window is a real struggle, with only a handful of days reaching a "marginal" rating, and most of those are wiped out by cross-onshore winds. The energy is there at times – like Monday afternoon the 17th with a moderate energy reading (1754) and a long-period 21-second groundswell out of the SSW, but the wind is cross-on and it’s just messy. Tuesday the 18th morning bumps up to 6ft SSW swell with a 17-second period, energy hitting 2355 (moderate to strong), but again, cross-on wind kills the quality. It’s the same story through Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 20th – the swell drops, the wind stays cross-on, and the best we get is a score of 2 out of 10.

The standout, if you can call it that, is Tuesday the 18th morning. The swell is 6ft from the SSW at 18 seconds, giving us some real push and shape for a reef break, but the wind is cross-on (10 km/h from the W). It’s light, so it’s not completely trashed, but it’s not clean. The energy is solid at 2521. It’s the best on offer, but for a beginner, 6ft might be a bit much, and the cross-on won’t help. For a late call, Wednesday the 19th morning has 5ft from the SSW at 16 seconds, energy at 1837, but again, cross-on breeze. Honestly, the whole period looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing with that persistent cross-onshore wind and moderate chop.

For the second week, things don’t improve. By the 27th, we see a jump in swell – Thursday afternoon the 27th has 6ft from the SSW at 21 seconds, energy ramping to 2805 (strong), but it’s still cross-on and choppy. Friday the 28th morning shows 6ft from the SW at 17 seconds, energy 2962, but the wind is up to 20 km/h cross-on. It’s frustrating – the swell is there, but the wind just won’t cooperate. The 29th and 30th fade out with smaller swell and the same wind story. It’s a bleak run, but Honkeys is fairly consistent, so it tends not to stay poor for long. Forecasts can change.

Rusty

Read more