Mooloolaba Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s cut straight to it. We’ve got a pretty quiet stretch ahead for the Mooloolaba region, with a bit of a pulse coming through much later in the window. The first real standout is a ways off, so patience is going to be key.

The first session worth paddling out for is Saturday morning, July 25th. Mooloolaba’s a beach and reef set-up, and it’s an inconsistent spot that rarely fires, so when it does, you take notice. Early on, we’ve got a clean 3 ft swell from the east, with a period of 8 seconds – not groundswell, but enough to get a few waves. The wind is offshore from the south at 9 mph, making for clean, tidy lines. The water’s sitting at 68°, which is about average for this time of year, so nothing unusual there. Combined energy is moderate at 120. It’s not epic, but it’s surfable, and with the offshore breeze, it’s the best on offer for the first week. The afternoon holds up with similar size and a cross-off wind, but the morning is the pick.

After that, things go flat. Sunday the 26th through to Thursday the 6th of August is a long, dry spell. There’s barely enough to get your fins wet, with swell heights dropping below 2 ft for days on end. You’ll see a few pulses of moderate energy on the 31st of July and 1st of August, with swell around 5 ft to 6 ft, but the period is a miserable 6 seconds – short, choppy, and mostly a washout. The wind stays cross-off, but the quality is poor, and the energy values (248 and 182) are moderate but messy. Not worth the drive.

Then we hit the real standout. Sunday morning, August 9th. Mooloolaba finally gets a proper shot. The forecast shows a 6 ft swell from the southeast with a period of 8 seconds, and the combined energy jumps to a strong 734. That’s proper power. The wind is glassy from the southwest at just 3 mph, so the surface will be like a mirror. This is the best session of the whole outlook. The size is getting up there, so it’s more for experienced surfers – over 5 ft can be a handful for beginners. The long period is absent here, so it should break with a bit of push rather than lurching. The crowd factor? At Mooloolaba, it’s often busy, so expect some company. The swell direction from the southeast isn’t the optimum north-east the spot prefers, but when the waves are this clean and this size, you don’t turn it down.

The Saturday afternoon before that, August 8th, also shows a 7 ft swell from the southeast with a 9-second period and strong energy at 602, but the wind is cross-off and the conditions are marginal. The Sunday morning is the clear winner.

So, in short: a small, clean session on July 25th, then a long flat spell, and a belter of a Sunday morning on August 9th. If you’re keen, pencil in that date.

Rusty.

Read more