Lighthouse Right Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s coming up for Lighthouse Right (Noumea-Pass).

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – the next week and a half is looking pretty grim. We’ve got a long stretch of poor conditions with a persistent cross-shore and cross-onshore wind that’s gonna make a mess of things. The surf is basically non-existent or blown out for the first week. For the first few days, from Monday August 31st through the start of September, there’s a gap with no real swell to speak of, just a lot of lumpy, choppy water. The water temp is sitting around 72°, which is right on the money for this time of year – nothing unusual there.

Things start to get interesting around Saturday the 5th of September. We’ll see some chest-high energy starting to show up, with a clean 3ft SSW swell and a long period of 16 seconds. That’s a proper groundswell, the kind that brings some real shape. Problem is, the wind is still a fresh cross-shore, so it’s not going to be glassy. The combined energy is moderate (460), so there’s some push there, but it’s not going to be a classic session.

The real standout window, and the only one I’d get excited about, is the morning of Sunday the 6th of September. We’ve got a solid 6ft SSW swell rolling in at 14 seconds. That’s head-high and a bit more, with a lot of juice behind it – the combined energy is strong (1362). But, and it’s a big but, the wind is still a fresh cross-onshore, making it lumpy. It’s a marginal call, and this setup is really only for the experienced crew. Anything over 5ft at Lighthouse Right with that wind direction is going to be a handful. It’s a reef break, and with that long period, it could be a bit tricky and sectiony.

After that, the swell stays around the 6ft to 6ft mark through the 8th of September, with the same cross-shore wind. The energy is very strong (1304 to 1728) but the quality is still poor. It’s a lot of water moving around, but not a lot of clean surf. The following week, from the 10th onwards, the wind looks like it might go light offshore for a couple of days, but the swell drops right off and the periods go really long, which is a bit of a gamble for a reef.

So, to be honest, there’s not a single day in this whole 16-day window that I’d call a winner. The best of a bad bunch is the morning of the 6th, and maybe the 8th, if you’re a local who knows the reef and can handle a bit of chop. It’s a tough run for Noumea-Pass, but it’s a reef break, so when the conditions line up, it’s magic. They just don’t line up here.

Rusty.

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