Horace Caldwell Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, let’s talk about your local spot.

Honestly, this outlook is a tough one. Over the next 16 days, the situation at Horace Caldwell Pier is offering consistently small, weak, onshore-affected surf. The swell energy is low, sitting way under 100 (51 for Wednesday morning, and it doesn’t climb into decent numbers until Thursday the 6th of August, but even then it’s still weak). There are a bunch of gaps where the call is “poor surf conditions” straight through.

We start from Wednesday the 29th of July. The swell is a tiny 3 ft out of the SSE, with a short period of just 5 seconds—basically blown-out windswell. The wind is a cross-onshore 15 mph, so expect chop and crumbly closeouts. Water temp is comfortably warm at 84°, about average for this time of year. There’s no standout window here; it’s all fluff.

Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st tell the same story: knee-high, weak swell (62 combined energy Thursday morning dropping to 30 Friday morning), gusty onshore breeze keeping it messy. The only slight flicker of hope comes on Sunday the 2nd of August in the morning, when the wind drops to glassy out of the west (3 mph). That said, the swell is still a meagre 2 ft from the SE with a period of 6 seconds. It’ll be clean and pretty to look at, but don’t expect anything with push.

Monday the 3rd of August morning is glassy again with east wind 3 mph, but again, the swell is tiny (2 ft, 5 seconds, 44 energy). It’s a paddleboard day, not a surf day.

Through the first week of August the pattern doesn’t change. The best looking window on paper is Thursday the 6th of August morning with a risk of thunderstorms, a light onshore breeze (6 mph from the SE), and swell bumping up to 3 ft from the SE with a period of 7 seconds (89 combined energy). That’s still weak energy, but the period is slightly better relative to the rest. It’s the best call in a poor run, but I wouldn’t call it a standout—it’s just the least ugly.

From the 7th of August through to the 13th of August, the sea stays small (2 ft to 3 ft) and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore. The combined energy stays well under 100. Honestly, there is no genuine quality surf on offer here across the whole 16 days. No standout day, no decent swell direction, no solid period. For anyone looking to paddle out, this is a flat spell. The set-up is better for a kite surfer if the wind picks up—otherwise, you’re waiting on the next change.

So, plain speaking: no good surf options in this 16-day window. For this area, a blank run isn’t that unusual, and forecasts can always shift, but right now it’s a waiting game.

Rusty.

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