Southport Main Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s talk about the next 16 days for Southport Main Beach. Honestly, it’s pretty bleak. There’s a long stretch of flat, messy conditions, and only a couple of tiny windows where you might be able to get wet – but don’t expect much.

The overall picture: You’ve got a lot of cross-onshore wind and weak, short-period swell for the first week and a half. The water temp is around 69°F, which is pretty normal for this time of year.

Starting Saturday August 29th through Tuesday September 1st, it’s a total loss. Swell is tiny, period is short, and the wind is onshore or cross-onshore. It’s choppy and lumpy, and the combined wave energy is weak (437 on Saturday morning, but that’s still just messy, weak energy with poor conditions). Not worth paddling out.

Wednesday September 2nd morning offers the first tiny glimmer. The wind swings to a light cross-offshore from the northwest, and the wave comment says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions”. Swell is only 2ft from the east at 10 seconds. The combined energy is weak (84). It’s clean, but it’s barely surfable. This is your best bet in the first week, and that’s not saying much.

After that, it’s back to small and weak. Thursday September 3rd and Friday September 4th mornings are clean with light winds, but the swell is only 1ft – not enough to ride. The energy is tiny (31 and 47). You’d be sitting on a board doing nothing.

Saturday September 5th is similarly flat, with a tiny 1ft swell in the morning, clean but useless. Afternoon gets a gusty 3ft from the north-northeast, but the period is only 6 seconds and the wind is a fresh cross-shore – lumpy and messy.

Sunday September 6th through Wednesday September 9th is more of the same: small swell, short period, mostly onshore or cross-shore wind. The only slight hope is Monday September 7th afternoon and Tuesday September 8th morning, when the wind goes offshore (west to west-northwest) and the swell nudges up to 3ft from the northeast, with a period of 6-7 seconds. The energy is moderate on Tuesday morning (110), but the waves are ordinary. It’s clean, but small and weak. Not a standout.

From Thursday September 10th right through to Sunday September 13th, the wind is back onshore from the south-southeast or east-southeast, the swell stays under 3ft, and the period is short. The combined energy is moderate at best (123 on Sunday afternoon), but with onshore wind and short-period swell, it’s just messy.

The only real standout – and I mean the *only* one – is Wednesday morning September 2nd. It’s not big, it’s not powerful, but it’s the cleanest window in a sea of crap. Light cross-offshore wind, small 2ft east swell, 10-second period, clean conditions. If you’re desperate, that’s your moment. But don’t expect much.

Honestly, this is a bleak run. For a beach break like Southport Main Beach, it’s not unusual to have long gaps of nothing. The setup is exposed to the east-southeast, and the swell just isn’t lining up. If the wind stays poor and the swell stays small, this stretch is more interesting for kite surfers than paddle surfers – especially on the afternoons with fresh cross-shore or onshore wind and lumpy chop.

So yeah, keep an eye on the forecast, but for now, it’s a waiting game. Rusty.

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