New Brighton Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, mates, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you: the next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for a proper paddle. There’s a whole lot of not much on the menu, and for the first week, you’d be better off doing anything else. But hold on, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s a long way off.

For the first stretch, we’re looking at a real drought. From Thursday the 10th right through to Monday the 21st, there’s basically nothing worth getting wet for. It’s a solid week and a half of tiny, messy swells, with the odd day showing a pulse of energy but no real form or power behind it. You'll see waves on the charts, but they're mostly wind slop or short-period junk, and the wind is often blowing the wrong way. A few mornings have that clean, glassy look, but with swell heights stuck around 0.7ft to 2ft, it’s not going to do anything for you. This is one of those blank runs that just happens sometimes. The buoys are mostly quiet, and the energy readings are low, often in the double digits, which tells you there’s just nothing pushing in our direction.

Now, during this dry spell, there are a couple of mornings that are *almost* worth a mention, but not quite. The Saturday morning on the 12th has a bit of a bump from the SSE, but it’s still only 2ft with a long, weak period. Nothing to get excited about. The same goes for the 19th and 21st – you’ll see some brief windows with light offshore winds, but the swell is just too small and weak to offer anything more than a wobbly whitewash. For the beginners out there, it’s a good time to practice paddling, I guess.

But hold on to your boards, because things might just change. On the 22nd of September – that’s a Tuesday – we finally see some real life in the water. The combined swell energy jumps right up to 652, which is a strong signal. We’ve got a proper east swell pushing in at a solid 5ft, with a nice 11-second period to give it some punch. That’s a real groundswell, and it should wrap into New Brighton Beach (Canterbury) with some proper size. The wind is looking light and glassy in the morning, and then a light cross-offshore in the arvo, So, if you’re an experienced surfer, this is your window. The size is well over the 5ft mark, so it’s not one for the groms, but for everyone else, this is the standout of the whole period. The water temp is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year at 52°, but that’s nothing too wild.

The following day, the 23rd, still has some decent size at 5ft, but the wind turns onshore from the east, which is going to chop it up and make it messy. Not the same quality, so if you can, get out on Tuesday. After that, we slip back into the poor stuff for the rest of the week. The long-range call for Tuesday the 22nd is promising, but it's a week and a half away, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. Forecasts can change, but this is the only real highlight on the horizon.

So, my call: sit tight, keep your board waxed, and pray for that Tuesday the 22nd to come through. It’s not a bad day on paper, but the next week and a half is going to be a write-off. I’d say the setup for the 22nd looks more interesting for a proper surf than anything else. It’s going to be a long wait, but it could be worth it.

Rusty, out.

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