Packery Channel Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Well, I’ve had a good hard look at what’s on the cards for the next couple of weeks, and I gotta be straight with ya – it’s a pretty lean stretch. We’re looking at a solid 16-day run where there just isn’t anything worth paddling out for. That first chance of a wave? Not a single one in the whole window.

Right from Tuesday the 18th of August, right through to Wednesday the 2nd of September, every single session at Packery Channel is marked as “poor surf conditions” with a score of zero out of ten. That’s a full two weeks of flat, messy, or just plain ugly conditions. The swell barely cracks 3.3 ft on the Friday the 28th of August morning session, but even then, the combined wave energy is weak at 52 (that’s a moderate energy but really nothing special), and the period is a short 5 seconds – just wind chop, not real groundswell. The wind is all over the shop: cross-onshore, onshore, cross-shore – it never settles into clean offshore for any length of time. There’s a brief moment on Tuesday morning the 25th of August when the wind drops to a slight air from the SW, described as “clean,” but the swell is still tiny at 2.6 ft and the energy is only 32. It’s a tease, not a ride.

The water temp at the start is about 84.4°F, which is pretty normal for this time of year – nothing unusual there.

With the combined swell energy never getting past the low hundreds (most days it’s in the teens, 20s, or 30s), and the wind never lining up, this is a straight-up bust. For a spot like Packery Channel, which is a breakwater setup and can be consistent, this kind of blank run happens. It’s not unusual – sometimes the ocean just switches off. If you’re desperate, the only thing worth noting is that the consistent onshore wind and small, weak swell would make this setup look more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer. But for us wave hunters, it’s a waiting game.

Hang in there – forecasts can change.

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