Norman Bay (Wilsons Promontory) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at the next couple of weeks down at Norman Bay (Wilsons Promontory). It’s a pretty average run overall, I’m not gonna lie. The water’s sitting at 57°, which is about normal for this time of year.

The main issue is the wind. For the first few days, we get a moderate to fresh cross-onshore or onshore breeze that’s just wrecking the surface. Thursday 30 July is a write-off with 20 km/h WSW winds and poor conditions, and Friday 31 July isn’t much better, though the wind eases to a lighter 10 km/h from the west, still onshore.

Saturday 1 August is where we finally see a glimmer of hope. The morning’s a bit ordinary with a tiny 1ft swell from the SW and a light cross-offshore NNE breeze, but the afternoon turns it around. Wind drops to 5 km/h from the west – glassy conditions – and that SW groundswell pushes up to 3ft with a solid 18-second period. The combined wave energy hits 442 (moderate). It’s a clean, glassy window for a beginner-friendly wave. Not big, but the best on offer in this outlook. Crowds are sometimes a thing here, so you might have a few mates out, but nothing crazy.

Sunday 2 August sees a bit more size with 3ft from the SW, period 16 seconds, energy up to 515 (moderate), but the wind swings cross-shore and cross-on, so it gets lumpy and marginal. A couple of days of dud conditions follow – Monday 3 August has a strong 30–35 km/h NW cross-on and a short 6-second period windswell mixed in, not worth paddling out. Tuesday and Wednesday are similar with fresh onshores.

Then Friday 7 August afternoon comes in as a real standout. We get a solid 6ft swell from the WSW, period 14 seconds, and the energy jumps to 1133 (strong). Best of all, the wind turns offshore from the ESE at 10 km/h. Conditions are clean, offshore lines. That’s expert territory though, with over 5ft, but for the experienced crew it’s a proper session. The bay is fairly exposed to the SW swell and the direction lines up well with the optimum.

Saturday 8 August holds some clean-ish surf with a lighter 3ft and offshore ENE wind, and Sunday 9 August stays small but clean with a NE cross-offshore. That 6ft Friday is the clear highlight.

From Monday 10 August onward, the wind cranks up again – strong to near-gale cross-onshores and onshores with periods of rain. The swell hangs around at 2–4ft from the SW with some long 15–19 second periods, but it’s blown out and messy right through to the end of the 16-day window on 14 August. A few of those days have combined energy in the 500–1000 range (moderate to strong), but without clean wind, it’s not worth the drive.

So in short: best bet is Saturday 1 August afternoon – tiny but glassy and fun. The real standout is Friday 7 August afternoon for the experienced surfers – clean offshore, solid 6ft, and plenty of energy. After that, it’s a long stretch of wind-affected slop.

Rusty.

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