Southport Main Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty here.

Honestly, looking at the next couple of weeks for our stretch of coast, I’ve got to level with you: it’s a pretty flat and bleak outlook. We’re staring down the barrel of a long stretch with zero decent surf on the cards. The good oil from the charts is that there’s not a single window in the next 16 days where you’d want to paddle out for a proper session. It’s the kind of run that makes you want to check your board’s wax and just wait it out, because the ocean’s just not giving us anything to work with.

The only spot we’ve got data for is Southport Main Beach, and it stays pretty uninspiring for the entire period. The first week is dominated by tiny, weak surf. We’re talking ankle-biters in the 1ft to 2ft range, with periods mostly around 9-10 seconds, so there’s just not enough energy to push a wave. The combined energy is mostly weak, sitting around the 21 to 84 mark (weak energy). The wind is a mixed bag, but mostly cross-shore or cross-onshore, which just messes up what little surface there is. There’s a bit of clean ocean on the morning of Wednesday the 2nd, but it’s only 2ft, so hardly worth a look.

The pattern stays pretty hopeless through the first week. We get a little bump in energy on Tuesday the 8th afternoon with a cross-shore breeze and 4ft of swell, but it’s a messy, short-period swell (6 seconds), and the wind is fresh, which chops it all up. Not worth it.

Then comes the biggest swell of the window around Thursday the 10th. The morning brings in 7ft of SSE swell at 10 seconds, and the energy jumps to strong at 1044 (strong wave energy). But hold your horses, because it’s blowing a strong 25 mph cross-onshore wind. That’s not surf; that’s a washing machine. It’s a full-on mess, and frankly, if the wind’s doing that to the water, it’s more of a kite-surfing day than a paddle day. The afternoon drops to 5ft, but still with fresh onshore winds. It's a lot of water moving around but zero quality. The rest of the week and into the next just fades back into tiny, weak surf with onshore or cross winds. The second week is even more forgettable – sub-3ft surf, weak energy, and not a single clean window.

So, there you have it. A proper dry spell. The water temp is around 69°, which is pretty much average for this time of year, so you won’t need a hood, but you will need a whole lot of patience. Sometimes it stays poor for a while, but this spot is usually pretty consistent, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the forecasts start turning around. Keep an eye on it, but don’t bother waxing up just yet.

Signing off,
Rusty

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