Nobbys Reef Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty checking in.

First off, the water temp at Nobbys Reef is sitting pretty average for this time of year, nothing to write home about.

Looking at the whole 16-day window, I gotta be straight with you—it’s a tough stretch. There’s a big gap of nothing much happening from Thursday morning the 13th all the way through to the end of the month. Most days are showing poor surf conditions with onshore winds blowing the place out, mainly from the east and southeast. The swell energy is weak to moderate at best, with combined energy readings mostly in the hundreds and low thousands, nothing to get excited about.

The only real highlight that pokes its head up is early on. Friday morning the 14th of August, we get a brief window of hope. The wind goes glassy from the WSW, making for clean, glassy conditions at Nobbys Reef. The swell is a modest 4 ft from the south, with a short period of 8 seconds, so it’s not packing much punch, but combined energy is 195 (moderate). It’s surfable but very ordinary. The rest of Friday is a write-off with onshore winds again.

After that, it’s a whole lot of nothing. From Saturday the 15th through to the start of the next week, it’s all onshore, cross-onshore, or cross-shore winds, with swell heights ranging from 1 ft to 6 ft but always poor conditions. The rating is 3/5 for Nobbys Reef, which is an advanced, inconsistent reef break, so when it’s good, it’s good, but this stretch isn’t it.

The second week is even quieter. From the 20th onwards, we see tiny swell (1 ft to 3 ft) with offshore or cross-off winds at times, which keeps the surface clean, but there’s just no energy. Combined energy drops to the 40s and 80s, which is weak. The period stretches out a bit to 9-10 seconds by the 23rd, but the swell direction is from the ENE, which is not the optimum SE direction for this spot.

Then, the last few days of the window (the 26th and 27th) show a spike in swell—8 ft on the 26th afternoon with combined energy of 1296 (very strong)—but the wind is a fresh 19 mph SSE cross-onshore, making it lumpy and messy. It’s a no-go for paddle surfing; that kind of power and wind might be more interesting for kite surfing.

So, overall, it’s a blank run. The only standout is that Friday morning the 14th for a quick glassy session, but even then, it’s ordinary. If you’re desperate, you could paddle out then, but otherwise, the forecasts can change, so don’t lose hope entirely.

Rusty.

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