Margate Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ve had a good hard look at the charts for Margate Pier, and I’m not gonna sugarcoat it – this stretch of the next 16 days is a tough one for us wave hunters. The overall pattern is flat, weak, and messy. There are no real standouts, and the first decent window is a long way off.

We’re starting with a real blank run. From Saturday the 4th to Monday the 13th of July, the surf is basically non-existent. You’re looking at tiny, wind-affected slop for days on end. The swell is small, the periods are short, and the winds are all over the shop – cross, onshore, choppy. It’s just not worth paddling out for. You’ll be sitting there bobbing around on a foam board. The combined wave energy is weak, barely cracking 20 to 60 (18) on the 4th, for example, just confirming the lack of punch.

Things finally start to whisper a little life on the morning of Tuesday the 14th of July. The conditions clean right up – glassy conditions with a light breeze from the ESE. We’ll see a tiny 0.8 ft of swell from the ESE, with a period of 8 seconds. The combined energy edges up to 110 (moderate), so there’s a little more weight behind it. But even then, the forecast says it’s only “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions.” The best of the bunch is that Tuesday morning window, but it’s a real knee-high affair. It’s not a standout, it’s just the least bad.

After that, it’s right back into the same old story. The rest of the period through to the 19th is filled with onshore winds, cross-chop, and tiny swell. The water temperature is about 74°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, but that’s the only thing that’s out of the ordinary.

Honestly, for a spot like Margate Pier, which is a beach/pier setup and very consistent, this is a pretty grim run. There’s no swell, and the conditions are just poor. Keep the board in the car, wait for the next forecast change, because this one’s a right-off.

Rusty.

Read more