Out Front Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you: Out Front is staring down a long, bleak run. There’s not a single good session on the cards across the full 16-day outlook, so don’t kid yourself. The first week is a total write-off with tiny scraps and rubbish wind, and even the second week offers nothing worth paddling out for. From now through to at least the 23rd of July, you’re looking at a solid gap of no recommendations. That’s nearly two weeks of flat or messy conditions for this spot.

Kicking off Thursday the 9th of July, it’s a sad scene: a weak 1 ft swell from the ENE with a short 8-second period and combined wave energy of just 35 – pathetic. On top of that, you’ve got a moderate onshore breeze from the south making it choppy and cross-on. It’s poor, and it stays that way through the weekend. Friday the 10th cleans up a bit with a light west wind and cleaner conditions, but the swell drops even smaller to 2 ft and under, period sitting at 7 seconds – basically nothing doing. Saturday the 11th offers glassy mornings, sure, but the swell is a minuscule 1 ft – barely a ripple.

Sunday the 12th sees a slight bump to 3 ft from the ENE with a 5-second period, but a fresh 19 mph cross-shore wind from the east churns it into a lumpy mess. That’s not surf, that’s a washing machine. Monday and Tuesday don’t get any better. Tuesday morning the 14th is the closest it gets to surfable – a 2 ft ESE swell with a 7-second period, clean cross-off wind from the WSW, and combined energy of 57. The comment even says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” so don’t get excited. It’s ankle-to-knee high and weak.

From there, it’s more of the same right through to the 24th. A tiny spike on Tuesday the 21st of July brings a 5 ft south swell with a 7-second period and combined energy of 261 – but it’s cross-on from the SSE at 16 mph and choppy. That’s a messy, blown-out 5 ft; for beginners that’s too big anyway, and with the onshore wind it’s just slop. The water temp on the morning of the 9th was 82°F, which is 7°F warmer than normal – that’s very unusual, almost a degree and a half more than the threshold for “very unusual.” So the water is unseasonably warm, but you wouldn’t want to be in it for the surf.

Honestly, Out Front is a sandbar that rarely breaks with decent shape, and when it does, the crowd can show up sometimes. But right now there’s nothing to draw anyone in. If you’re a kite surfer, the windier days with 3 ft-plus swell and fresh cross-shore wind might be worth a look – this setup is more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. Otherwise, save the petrol. Forecasts can change, but this is a grim blank stretch for the area.

- Rusty

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