Narrabeen-Alley Rights Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here, and I’ve gotta be straight with you – the next couple of weeks at Narrabeen-Alley Rights (beach/sandbar) are looking pretty grim. We’re in for a long stretch of tiny, weak surf with hardly any quality windows. The water temp is sitting at 63°F, which is about 1°F cooler than usual for this time of year – nothing wild, just a bit nippy.

The whole forecast starts off flat. Thursday morning (6 August) we’ve got a pathetic 1.0ft easterly swell with a short period of 10 seconds, and the energy is a measly 47 (weak). The wind is a light cross-offshore from the WSW at 9 mph, so the surface is clean, but there’s just nothing to ride. Thursday afternoon stays tiny at 1.0ft, and the wind swings cross-shore from the NE at 6 mph, making it messy. Honestly, it’s poor.

Friday morning (7 August) sees a tiny bump to 1ft from the SSE with a 10-second period, still weak energy at 64. The wind is light cross-off from the WNW at 6 mph, so it’s clean, but the waves are ordinary. Friday afternoon drops back to poor.

Saturday (8 August) and Sunday (9 August) are more of the same – tiny SSE swell, nothing over 1ft, and the wind is light but not helping much. Sunday morning does push up to 3ft from the ENE with a 9-second period, and energy climbs to 164 (moderate), but the wind is a light cross-off from the north at 9 mph, so it’s clean. Even so, the quality is still “very ordinary.” The afternoon turns to light rain and a stronger NNE wind, so forget it.

Monday (10 August) morning gets a bit of size – 5ft from the ENE with a 9-second period, energy jumping to 392 (moderate). But the wind is howling cross-off from the WNW at 25 mph, which makes it blown out and challenging. This is expert-only territory at that size, and the conditions are still poor. The afternoon drops back to 3ft.

From Tuesday (11 August) through to the end of the second week, it’s a total washout. Swell stays between 1.0ft and 2ft, period is around 9-10 seconds, and energy rarely cracks 60. The wind is mostly cross or cross-off, but the waves are just too small and weak to bother with. A few mornings have clean surfaces, but the surf is “poor” or “surfable but very ordinary.” There’s a long gap from around 11 August right through to the very end of the forecast with no real recommendations.

The only faint glimmer comes on Thursday 20 August morning – a 2ft easterly swell with a 10-second period, energy of 85 (still weak), but the wind is a glassy 3 mph from the west, pure cross-off. It’s clean, but the waves are tiny and ordinary. Friday 21 August morning is similar – 2ft, ENE, clean with a light WSW breeze, but again, nothing to write home about. The afternoon of 21 August sees a nasty 6ft southerly swell with a super short period of 6 seconds, energy of 300 (moderate), but it’s an onshore mess with poor conditions – that’s more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddling wave.

So, what’s the standout? Honestly, there isn’t one. The best of a bad bunch is probably Sunday 9 August morning with the 3ft ENE swell and clean conditions, or maybe Thursday 20 August morning for a glassy, tiny session. Neither is a true standout. The energy is just too weak, the swell too small, and the quality too ordinary for the entire 16-day window. It’s a tough run, but the breaks here are fairly consistent usually, so don’t lose hope – forecasts can change.

Rusty.

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