Japs Cove Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for the next little while at Japs Cove.

Honestly, I gotta be straight with you – it’s a pretty bleak run for Japs Cove. This is a sheltered, inconsistent reef break that only really works for advanced crew when conditions line up, and they just aren’t cooperating. The water temp is sitting at 71°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year – over 5° above average, which is very unusual.

We’re staring down a long stretch of poor surf. The first week is mostly a write-off. From Saturday the 18th right through to the end of that week, it’s all poor conditions – small swell around 2ft to 2ft coming from the SSW or SW, cross-onshore wind wrecking it, and combined wave energy mostly weak to moderate (256 to 356 range). Nothing to get excited about.

Come Monday morning the 20th, we get a brief moment of clean-ish conditions with an onshore wind and 2ft swell from the SSW, but the wave comment says it’s poor. There’s a hint of life on Tuesday the 21st morning – 3ft SSW swell, clean winds, moderate energy (424) – but it’s still only rated as marginal by the forecast. After that, it’s back to choppy cross-onshore junk.

The second week brings a slight pickup in energy but the quality stays low. The morning of Thursday the 24th sees 2ft swell from the SSW but a very long period of 24 seconds – that’s a groundswell, but the energy reads 559 (moderate) and it’s choppy. On Friday the 24th afternoon there’s a brief clean moment with 3ft from the S, but still marginal. Saturday the 25th morning has 2ft SW swell with a long 21-second period and energy hitting 677 (approaching strong), but the cross-onshore wind screws it.

The best the whole outlook offers is probably Sunday the 26th morning – 2ft SW swell with glassy conditions (onshore wind only 3 mph) and energy at 565. Still only a marginal call though. Monday the 27th morning is similar – 3ft SSW swell, glassy, energy 668. But the reef’s inconsistent and the swell direction isn’t a perfect match for its optimum (SSW vs the break’s ideal SSW – that’s okay, but the size is tiny).

Bottom line: there’s no standout session in this 16-day window. The gap of good surf is basically the whole period – just a handful of marginal windows, but nothing that’d get me out of bed. For a break that’s already inconsistent and only works for advanced surfers, this is a pretty normal blank run. Forecasts can change, but right now, it’s a long wait.

Rusty.

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