North Bar Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it.

Mate, if you’re looking for a session at North Bar over the next couple of weeks, I gotta be honest with you – it’s a pretty grim stretch overall. The swell is tiny and weak most of the time, and the wind just won’t play ball for any kind of quality. It’s a long haul with very little reward on offer, so don’t get your hopes up too high.

Water temp is sitting at 69°F, which is pretty much bang on average for this time of year.

Let’s start with the first window. Saturday the 12th into the middle of the following week is a total write-off. We’re talking knee-high slop at 1ft from the SE, with periods barely scraping 10 seconds. The energy is pathetic – combined energy readings are in the teens and twenties (17, 33, 41). Wind is mostly cross-off or onshore, but even the clean moments can’t save this tiny, weak surf. Sunday the 13th has morning offshore wind from the SSW at 19 mph, but it’s hammering down with heavy rain and the swell is only 1ft. Not worth a paddle.

Tuesday the 16th and Wednesday the 17th offer a couple of cleaner windows with light cross-off breezes and tiny 2ft to 2ft ESE swell. It’s surfable if you’re desperate to get wet on a longboard, but it’s not going to give you anything to remember.

Now, things get a bit more interesting, but not good. Around Wednesday the 23rd and into the 24th, the swell jumps up. On the 23rd we get 6ft to 7ft from the SE, with combined energy hitting 236 and 352 – moderate to strong energy. But here’s the catch: the period is a short 6 seconds, and the wind is cross-onshore all day. For a beach and reef setup like North Bar, that means choppy, lumpy, and messy. At 7ft with those winds, it’s really only worth considering for experienced surfers, and even then, it’s not going to be clean. Honestly, with that short-period, wind-affected swell, it looks way more suited for kite surfing than a good paddle session.

We get a brief relief late in the window. On Friday the 25th, the wind swings WSW and then W at 16-19 mph, giving us a clean cross-off breeze. Swell drops to 2ft from the E with an 8-second period, and combined energy is 136. It’s clean, but the swell is small. Saturday the 26th has a similar story – 4ft from the ENE with light cross-off wind in the afternoon, keeping it clean.

The very last entry, Sunday the 27th afternoon, finally shows a glimmer of hope. We get 2ft from the E, a period of 10 seconds, light cross-off wind from the SSE at 6 mph, and clean conditions. The combined energy is 87. It’s small, but the conditions are finally okay. This is probably the only time in the whole forecast that it feels like a proper, ordinary surf.

If I had to pick one standout – and it’s a weak one – it’s that Sunday the 27th afternoon. The 10-second period gives the small swell a bit more shape, and the light cross-off wind makes it clean. But don’t expect much; it’s tiny.

Between the 12th and the 27th, there are long gaps of several days where you just wouldn’t bother. The consistent theme here is poor surf quality. A blank run like this isn’t out of the ordinary for North Bar – it can go quiet for days.

In short: wait for the 27th afternoon if you’re desperate for a clean, small session. The rest is either too small, too windy, or both.

Rusty.

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