National Park Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Looking at the next couple of weeks, National Park is going to be a pretty quiet stretch for the most part. There’s a run of small, ordinary waves on the way, but one standout afternoon later in the first week should get you out of the water with a smile. The water is sitting at 20°, which is a bit colder than what you’d normally expect this time of year, so a thin wetsuit might be the go.

It kicks off on the morning of Friday the 21st of August with small 4ft easterly swell at 8 seconds and a light offshore breeze. Conditions are clean but the energy is weak (180), so it’s more of a paddle-around session than anything to write home about. That carries through Saturday the 22nd with glassy 3ft waves in the morning, but still small and ordinary.

Sunday the 23rd is a bit better – 4ft from the east-northeast at 8 seconds, clean, and with the combined energy picking up to 164. Still not pumping, but it’s surfable. Monday the 24th and Tuesday the 25th stay in that 2ft to 4ft range, with offshore and clean conditions most of the time. Nothing exciting, but you won’t be fighting a howling onshore either.

Then Wednesday the 26th goes messy in the morning with onshore wind, so skip that.

The standout comes on Thursday the 27th of August, in the afternoon. The swell is 3ft from the east-southeast at 8 seconds, but here’s the kicker – the combined energy jumps to 344, which is solid, and you’ve got a moderate offshore breeze from the southeast. That’s going to line the waves up nicely. Expect good, clean surf. It’s not huge, but it will be the best of the first week by a long shot.

The rest of that week through to the 30th drops back into poor, cross-onshore junk. There’s a bump in size on Monday the 31st of August with 6ft to 6ft easterly swell, but the wind is cross and the period is short at 7 seconds. It’s messy, and at that size with short period it’s more of a wrestling match than a wave. Not recommended.

Tuesday the 1st of September sees the same size, 6ft to 6ft, but the afternoon cleans right up with a light offshore from the southeast and combined energy at 406. That’s the second standout. For experienced surfers, those 6ft sets with offshore wind and that much energy (406) could be fun, but the short period (8 seconds) means a bit of a lumpy paddle out. Wednesday the 2nd of September holds 5ft with moderate offshore wind and energy at 406 to 281 – good quality, but big enough that beginners should stay out of the water.

From Thursday the 3rd into the second week, it fades back to 3ft to 3ft, small and clean but ordinary. Still, if you’re hanging out for a wave, Friday the 4th of September morning is glassy with 4ft from the east-northeast – that’s worth a micro-session.

Overall, your two best calls are Thursday afternoon the 27th of August and Tuesday afternoon the 1st of September. Both offer clean, solid conditions, but the 1st has more energy and size for the stronger paddler. National Park is exposed to the east and northeast, and the optimum direction is east-northeast, which lines up nicely on those days.

Keep an eye on the forecasts – it’s not a total write-off.

Rusty.

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