Joss Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what Joss Bay is serving up over the next couple of weeks. I gotta be straight with you – this isn’t looking like a run of classics. The whole 16-day window is pretty grim, with wave heights barely pushing past three feet for most of it, and when we do see a pulse of energy, the wind just ruins the party or the period is too short to get stoked about.

We kick off on the morning of Wednesday, July 29th. There's hardly a bump in the water with swell at just 0.3 ft. The wind is a light cross-onshore, and the combined energy is only 3 – basically a lake. That sets the tone for the next several days. Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st might push up a touch of north swell, but it’s short-period stuff (4 to 5 seconds) and the wind is onshore or cross-shore and fresh. Friday morning sees the swell creep to 3 ft from the north, but with a 4-second period and a fresh cross-shore wind (19 mph), it’s lumpy and messy. The combined energy is still weak (24). Honestly, you’re not missing anything.

We go through the weekend into early next week – Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd of August – with similar small, crummy conditions. The wind might ease a little, but the swell stays below 4 ft and the periods are short. There’s a bit of a bump on Monday morning the 3rd of August, with the swell hitting 6 ft from the northeast. The combined energy jumps to 306, which is moderate. The snag? The period is only 6 seconds (windswell) and the wind is a fresh cross-onshore at 22 mph, making it lumpy and poor. That size with that wind will be choppy as anything – more of a kite session than a paddle session at a beach setup like Joss Bay.

Tuesday the 4th of August is where it gets interesting, but only just. The morning sees a 3 ft swell from the northeast with a 6-second period. The wind finally drops to a light breeze from the west, going cross-offshore, and the conditions are described as clean. The combined energy is 73 – still weak, but for Joss Bay, that’s the best we’ll see. The surf is described as “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” so it’s a "maybe" session for the desperate. It’s inconsistent here, so don’t expect a constant line-up.

After that, it drops right off again. From Wednesday the 5th through to Tuesday the 11th of August, we are looking at tiny, poor surf. The swell is below 1 ft for most of that stretch, with onshore or cross-onshore winds. There’s a dead spot on the morning of Tuesday the 11th with no swell at all.

Then, on the morning of Wednesday the 12th of August, another pulse arrives. A 3 ft north-northeast swell with a 6-second period and a light cross-onshore wind. The energy is 65 – weak, but the conditions are pretty clean with only light wind ripples. It’s better than most of what we’ve seen, but still nothing to write home about. That fades quickly into the 13th, which is clean but tiny.

So, to cut it short: the only stand-out, if you can call it that, is the morning of Tuesday the 4th of August. That 3 ft north-east swell with clean offshore-ish wind is your best shot for a surf, even if it’s only just surfable. For the rest of the run, you might as well leave the board in the van. Joss Bay is inconsistent at the best of times, and a blank run like this isn't unusual for the area. Keep an eye on it – forecasts can change.

Rusty.

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