Nyang-Nyang Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, grab a seat. Rusty here, and I’ve been staring at the charts for your local stretch. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest. The swell is there, but the wind is playing hard to get, so we’ve got to pick our moments carefully.

The main story for the next couple of weeks is a powerful, long-period groundswell from the southwest, but it’s arriving with an onshore wind that’s going to mess up the surface most of the time. We’re looking at a very long swell period around 15 to 18 seconds for the first week, which means proper groundswell energy – we're talking deep-water pulses that really wrap in. That kind of period gives you those long lulls between sets, but when they come, they’ll have real push. The combined energy is through the roof early on, hitting 1608 on Saturday morning and then jumping to 2924 on Tuesday, which is strong to very strong – you’ll feel the ocean breathing.

The standout window, and I mean the one to really circle on your calendar, is Saturday morning, August 29th at Nyang-Nyang. It’s an advanced reef break, exposed and picking up everything from the southwest. The water is sitting at 79°F, bang on average for this time of year, so no surprises there. The swell is a solid 6ft from the southwest with that 15-second pulse, and while the wind is a light cross-onshore from the southeast at 6 mph, it’s light enough to only kick up small wind ripples. For a wave of this size and power, that’s as clean as it gets for the start of the period. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best we’ve got, and the energy is huge (1608). Crowds can be a sometimes thing here, so you might get a few out, but on a Saturday morning with a bit of onshore, the pack should be manageable.

After that, it gets a bit ugly. The wind picks up to a fresh 15–19 mph from the ESE and SE, turning the surface to chop. The swell stays solid—over 7ft on Tuesday, Wednesday, and into the second week—but it’s cross-onshore and lumpy. The long period makes these waves fat and powerful, but with the wind tearing it up, it’s just a mess. For beginners, anything over 5ft is getting spicy, and when we’re at 7ft or 7ft, that’s expert territory anyway, so if you’re not on it, stay out of the way. The setup at Nyang-Nyang is a reef, so that long-period swell won’t just close out straight like it would at a beach break—it’ll bend and give you a proper line. But without clean wind, it’s just a washing machine.

The second week, things ease up a bit in size, but the wind doesn’t let up. It stays cross-on from the SE, keeping the conditions grotty. The swell drops back to 5ft to 6ft, still with that long period, but the energy dips into the 800-1500 range, which is moderate to strong. Honestly, there isn’t another standout in there. The morning of Saturday, August 5th, sees a 6ft SSW swell, but it’s the same story—on wind, poor conditions. If you’re desperate, you could paddle out, but you won’t be having fun.

Given the persistent onshore winds and the solid size, this setup is honestly more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The wind is steady and the swell has power, but for a surfer, the chop is a killer.

Alright, that’s the hard truth. Keep an eye on that Saturday morning, because the rest of the run is a write-off.
- Rusty

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