Long Strand-Castlefreke Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. Look, I’ve scanned the next couple of weeks for Long Strand-Castlefreke, and I gotta be straight with you – it’s a tough run. There’s a long stretch of flat to tiny, messy conditions that just aren’t worth paddling out for. The gear will stay dry for a good while.

The window opens with nothing doing. From Friday the 21st right through until the end of August, we’re looking at ankle-biters and knee-high slop. Swell heights barely tickle 1 ft – a long-period SSW groundswell with periods up to 16 seconds, but there's just no size to work with. The combined wave energy is pathetically low, reading 42 to 85 in the first few days – weak stuff. Wind’s mostly cross-off or offshore (NNE, ENE) which would polish it up if there was anything to polish, but it’s flat. This stretch is a total write-off for a proper surf.

We finally see a pulse of energy rolling in around Wednesday the 26th. The swell bumps to 4 ft to 4 ft from the S, but the period drops to a short 7 seconds – windswell, not much grunt. Combined energy hits moderate levels (147 to 197), but the wind is a fresh S-SSE cross-onshore at 15-18 mph, making it lumpy and choppy. Thursday the 27th is a bit smaller and still messy. Not the good stuff.

The run continues poor through the end of the month and into early September. There’s a notable jump on Tuesday the 1st of September: the afternoon sees a 8 ft swell from the SSW (7 second period) with combined energy rocketing to 521 – strong wave energy. But the wind is a moderate SSE cross-onshore at 12 mph, making it choppy and unruly. That size (over 5 ft) puts it into intermediate-to-expert territory, and the onshore wind kills any chance of clean shape. It’s rough out there.

Then Wednesday the 2nd of September – this is the standout, the one morning that could be worth the wait. From the early hours, we’ve got a 5 ft swell from the WSW with a 10-second period, combined energy of 520 – that’s strong. The wind is a fresh ESE cross-off at 18 mph, keeping the surface clean. It’s predicted to be too big for this break given the direction and setup, though. If you’re a strong paddler and know the sandbars, it might offer something. But for most, the wind and tide being favorable doesn't change that the swell is pushing hard.

After that, we’re back to small surf (1 ft) with long-period SSW groundswell and clean cross-off winds on the 3rd and 4th, but the size is just too minimal to get excited about.

Honestly, if you’re after a paddle, the only flicker of hope is that Wednesday morning, September 2nd. Everything else is a long, flat gap. It’s one of those stretches where you just wait for the charts to change.

Rusty.

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