Narrabeen-Alley Rights Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ll be straight with you—this 16-day window for Narrabeen-Alley Rights is a proper mixed bag, with a long stretch of flat or poor conditions bookended by a couple of genuine standouts. We’ve got a tough start, a brief window of clean surf, then a big gap of nothing much before the real action kicks in.

The water’s sitting at 64°F, which is about average for this time of year down here, nothing unusual.

We kick off on Saturday the 18th with a weak, short-period ESE swell at 4 ft, but the wind is onshore from the SSE at 12 mph, making a mess of things. Wave energy is low (108). It’s poor. Sunday the 19th sees a jump in size to 7 ft from the ENE with a longer 11-second period, and the energy ramps up to 1103—moderate to strong—but the wind is still onshore from the SE at 9 mph, keeping it marginal at best.

Then, Monday the 20th is our first real highlight. The swell drops to a clean 6 ft from the ENE, with a 11-second period (groundswell), and the wind goes light and cross-offshore from the WNW at 3 mph. That’s glassy, clean conditions, and the energy is solid at 701. This is the best of the early run. Tuesday the 21st also offers a decent morning session with 5 ft from the ENE, light NNW wind at 3 mph, but the energy is lower at 373. It’s clean, but not a standout.

After that, the bottom falls out. From Wednesday the 22nd right through to Friday the 31st of July, it’s mostly poor or flat. A few days have tiny swell and onshore winds, with energy dropping to single digits at times. There’s a brief spike on Thursday the 23rd with 5 ft from the SSW, but the period is a short 6 seconds and the wind is strong WSW at 16 mph, making it messy. Not worth paddling out for.

Now, the real payoff comes at the start of August. Saturday the 1st of August morning is still marginal with 6 ft from the ESE and a short 5-second period, but the afternoon brings a massive 10 ft E swell with an 8-second period and energy of 1149. The wind is light, but the swell is too big for this break—it’s a 10 ft wave, so only for experts. Then Sunday the 2nd of August morning is the absolute standout of the whole outlook. The swell is 8 ft from the ENE, 10-second period, energy at 1041, and the wind is light cross-offshore from the WSW at 6 mph. That’s clean, powerful, and consistent. This is the one to circle on the calendar. It’s a big swell, over 8 ft, so only for experienced surfers, but the quality is excellent.

Right, that’s the run. A couple of clean days in the first week, then a long dry spell, then a cracking Sunday morning on the 2nd of August. Keep an eye on the forecast, because that last one could be a beauty.

Rusty.

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