Kelso (Happy Wanderers) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, let’s have a look at the next 16 days for Kelso (Happy Wanderers). It’s a fairly consistent point break, exposed to a south swell, and it really wants the swell coming from the south to line up clean.

We’ve got a slow start, nothing doing until the afternoon of Wednesday the 2nd. Before that, Tuesday the 1st is flat with a tiny 0.7ft swell and poor conditions. No point getting wet.

Wednesday the 2nd is where it starts to get interesting. The morning has a clean 3ft from the SSW with a very long 15-second period, and the wind is light cross-off. That’s worth a paddle, but the afternoon is the pick of the entire outlook. That same SSW groundswell pushes 4ft, still with that long 15-second pulse, and the cross-off breeze stays light. The energy jumps into the moderate range (931), and it’s clean. This is your standout session. The water temp is 69°, which is about average for the time of year.

Thursday the 3rd looks like a write-off: stronger winds and poor surf, even with some size. Friday the 4th has a heap of swell – 12ft to 13ft from the south, but it’s way too big for most, with strong wind and rain. That’s expert-only territory, and with short-period (8–10 seconds) windswell, it’s not going to be pretty. The energy is strong (up to 3478), but the quality’s not there.

Saturday the 5th drops back to 8ft from the SSE, but the wind is light onshore, so it’ll be a bit messy. Not a top call. Sunday the 6th has a small 3ft SSW swell with a decent 11-second period, but onshore wind and rain again. Marginal.

Monday the 7th is a big one – 12ft from the south with a very long 17-second period, and the energy is huge (7390). But the wind is a strong cross-onshore, so it’s messy and dangerous. That’s for the brave and experienced only, and even then, the wind will trash it.

After that, from Tuesday the 8th all the way through to the 16th, it’s pretty grim. Swell drops to tiny, often under 3ft, and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, often fresh to strong. There are a few brief glimpses of cleaner cross-off wind on the 10th and 14th, but with only 0.7ft and 5ft respectively, and poor periods, they aren’t worth the trip. The 14th has a 5ft SSW swell but with a 6-second period – that’s junky and weak (195 energy).

So, bottom line: if you want a surf, your window is Wednesday the 2nd afternoon. That’s the standout. The 3ft morning session is also a decent backup. After that, it’s a long stretch of flat or messy conditions right through to the end of the outlook. Nothing else is worth chasing.

Rusty

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