Packery Channel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab a coffee and settle in, ‘cause the next couple of weeks are lookin’ pretty flat and ordinary for us here. We’ve got a long stretch of nothing much to get excited about. From now right through until mid-September, it’s a whole lot of poor surf conditions. We’re talkin’ small, weak, onshore slop. The wind is mostly out of the south and southeast, blowin’ cross-on or straight on, just choppin’ everything up. The swell is tiny, barely cracking 3 ft, with a short, weak period of 5 seconds and combined swell energy barely hittin’ 35. It’s a tough scene.

This poor run stretches out for nearly two weeks. You’ll see the same story day after day: small southeasterly windswell, onshore wind, and a sea surface that looks more like a washing machine than a surf break. The swell does start to build a little by Saturday the 12th, gettin’ up to 5 ft from the SE, and the energy climbs to 129, but it’s still plagued by that cross-onshore wind. By Sunday the 13th, the swell touches 5 ft and energy hits 183, but again, it’s messy and onshore. This is really more of a kite-surfing setup than anything for a paddle surfer.

Finally, there’s a glimmer of hope. On Tuesday morning, September 15th, things start to look a bit different. We get a morning of glassy conditions with a light southerly breeze, almost no wind. The swell is still small at 4 ft from the SE, with a 6-second period, but the energy is a modest 93. The waves are described as surfable, but very ordinary. It’s not gonna win any awards, but for the first time in weeks, it’s not completely blown out. Then, Wednesday the 16th and Thursday the 17th mornings show the same pattern: glassy conditions with a light northeasterly or easterly breeze, clean surface, and that same small 4 ft or 3 ft SE swell. The energy sits around 84-76. It’s small, it’s weak, but it’s *clean*.

So, the standout here is the two or three mornings around the 15th, 16th, and 17th of September. Packery Channel itself is a breakwater, exposed to the SE, and it’s always crowded. When that wind goes glassy, it’s your only real shot at a clean wave in the whole 16-day window. Don’t expect power, but you might get a couple of fun, clean lines before the afternoon seabreezes ruin it again.

Stay patient, friends. It’s a rough patch, but those glassy mornings are worth savin’ your energy for.

- Rusty

Read more