New Brighton Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, mate. Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what the next couple of weeks are serving up for New Brighton Beach.

To be straight with you, it’s a pretty quiet stretch overall. We’ve got a long run of days where the surf just isn’t going to be worth paddling out for any kind of fun. There are no standouts in the first week at all; the waves are either tiny or blown out, and the energy is weak. Honestly, for the first eight or nine days, you’re looking at mostly flat or messy conditions, with the best being a few "ordinary" sessions with small, weak surf.

The first real glimmer comes on Saturday the 29th of August in the afternoon. It’s a glassy window with the wind going southwest at just 3 mph. The swell is tiny at 1 ft from the southeast, with a period of 13 seconds, so there’s a bit of push from a groundswell, but the overall energy is still low (85). It’s surfable, but you won’t be writing home about it. The water temp here is about average for the time of year at 50°, so nothing weird going on.

Then we get a few more of those "ordinary" mornings and afternoons around the 1st of September, with similar small, clean conditions. The best of that little run looks like Tuesday morning the 1st of September: a light 6 mph cross-offshore wind from the west-northwest, with 2 ft swell from the southeast at a 10-second period (energy 90). Still small, but clean enough to get a few little ones on a log.

The standout moment in the whole 16-day window happens on Friday the 4th of September in the afternoon. That’s when a pulse of swell hits—5 ft from the southeast with a 10-second period, and the combined energy jumps right up to 503, which is moderate-to-strong. The catch is the wind: it’s blowing directly onshore from the east at 9 mph, which will chop it up and make it pretty messy. That kind of size (5 ft) is still okay for most, but the onshore wind kills the quality. It’s the biggest surf on offer, but not the cleanest.

After that, conditions improve a little, but the swell drops fast. The 6th of September (Sunday) gives us a morning with light offshore winds from the west-southwest at 3 mph and 2 ft swell from the east (8-second period, energy 96). That’s clean, small, and better shape than the bigger stuff, but still very modest.

Overall, this is a quiet period for New Brighton Beach. There are no true primo days with clean, decent-sized swell and good wind. The best advice I can give is to keep an eye on the 4th of September afternoon if you’re desperate for some size, or hit the 1st and 6th of September mornings for clean, tiny waves on a longboard. Anything further out—like the 8th of September—shows more small, onshore mess with poor energy.

Stay patient, mate. It’s not always this quiet.

Rusty.

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