National Park Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right now, the surf is pretty weak and uninspiring. We’ve got a tiny, short-period windswell mixing with a bit of leftover energy, but honestly, it’s not worth paddling out for unless you’re desperate for a splash. The water’s sitting at 69° which is a touch colder than normal for this time of year – you’ll feel that chill on the paddle out.

Looking at the early part of the run, Tuesday the 15th is flat and glassy – a proper morning cruise but nothing surfable. Wednesday the 16th kicks things up a notch with a jump in swell, but it’s all over the place and the wind shifts around – the afternoon ramps up to 35 km/h offshore and waves around 8ft, but the energy is messy and short-period at 7 seconds. This is more of a washing machine than anything you’d want to ride, and at that size it’s already pushing past what beginners should be out in. Thursday the 17th holds similar size, around 7-8ft, but still that short, disorganized swell – not the kind of day that gets you excited.

Then it drops right back off. Friday the 18th is small, around 4-5ft with clean-ish offshore breeze but barely any push. From there we hit a proper dead patch – Saturday the 19th through Tuesday the 22nd is basically flat, with waves dropping to 1ft or less. That’s a solid four-day gap of nothing, and you’re better off doing anything else. The combined energy falls to double digits and even single digits – weak, weak stuff.

Things start to stir again on Wednesday the 23rd, with a bit of a bump from the ESE – around 6ft and a short 6-7 second period. The wind’s offshore and clean, but the swell’s still junky. Thursday the 24th is similar, and Friday the 25th bumps up slightly to 6ft with an 8-second period – still short, still a bit lumpy.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Saturday the 26th is the standout of this whole forecast. The swell holds at 7ft from the east with an 8-second period, the wind is light cross-offshore, and the conditions are clean. Combined energy jumps to 597 – that’s solid, meaty juice. National Park (National-Park) is an exposed point, and it loves this ENE direction, so it’ll be lining up nicely. It’s not a monster, but it’s clean and consistent, and with the light winds it’ll be proper fun for intermediates. Sunday the 27th is nearly as good – still around 6-7ft, still clean, still cross-off – just a fraction less energy at 548-587. This is the window to make the most of it.

After that, it fades again. Monday the 28th drops to 6-6ft but the wind turns cross-shore and it gets choppy. Tuesday the 29th and Wednesday the 30th are cross-shore, messy, and the swell slides off – down to 4-5ft and losing shape. The long-range stuff for the start of next month isn’t anything to get worked up about either; it’s just more of the same weak, cross-shore junk.

For the beginners out there – Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th are right at the limit. Anything over 5ft is getting too pushy, so wait for the smaller windows if you're new. For the experts, those two days are the call, but keep in mind the 8-second period means it’s not a long-lining groundswell – it’s more of a punchy, hollower wave. The point will handle it better than a beach break, so if you’ve got a board that likes a bit of juice, you’ll be smiling.

Bottom line: the first week is mostly a dud with a couple of short-period bumps that don’t really deliver. The second week – specifically the 26th and 27th – is where it’s at. Get on it while it’s clean.

Rusty.

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