Pelican Watch Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ at Pelican Watch.

Honestly, mate, it’s a pretty flat and ugly run ahead. There’s a big ol’ gap of almost nothing before we even see something that could be called a wave. The first real chance of anything worth paddling out for doesn’t show up until Wednesday the 23rd of September, and even then, it’s a long way from pumping.

The first week is a write-off. From Tuesday the 15th through to Tuesday the 22nd, it’s all poor surf conditions. Wind is mostly onshore or cross-on, and the swell is small, weak, and short-period. The energy readings are in the weak doldrums, often sitting between 20 and 100 – just no grunt. There’s a glassy moment on Friday morning the 18th, but with a tiny 1ft swell, you’d be bobbing around on a lake. That first week and a bit is a real drought.

Then we finally get a pulse. Wednesday morning the 23rd sees a little lift. We get a 3ft swell from the SSE with some clean conditions thanks to a light cross-offshore breeze from the NNW. It’s only described as “surfable but very ordinary,” and the energy is still weak at 52. It’s not a standout, just the first sign of life. Wednesday afternoon gets a bit cleaner with a 3ft SE swell and a glassy 5 km/h offshore from the WSW. Energy creeps up to 84. Still small, but it’s the best of a bad bunch early on.

Thursday the 24th morning gives us the biggest swell of the whole stretch so far: 4ft from the SSE. The wind is a cross-offshore from the SW at 15 km/h, so the waves should be clean. The combined energy is 115, so it’s starting to feel like a proper surf. That said, 4ft is still on the small side for a bit of grunt, and the period is only 6 seconds – short-period wind swell. It’s ordinary, but if you’re desperate, this is the window.

Then it all falls apart again. From Thursday afternoon right through to the end of the forecast on the 30th, we’re back to poor conditions. There is a weird spike on Wednesday the 30th with a 5ft ENE swell and a period of 8 seconds, and the energy jumps to 335 – that’s moderate energy! But the wind is a nasty cross-shore from the north at 25 km/h, creating a cross-chop. That’s messy and lumpy. It’s too big for beginners, but for experienced surfers, it’s just junk. The direction is ENE, which is onshore for this SE-facing break, so it’ll be a washout. That afternoon stays onshore with 5ft and 302 energy, but it’s cross-on and choppy again. No good.

So what’s the call? The only real window to get wet is around the 23rd and 24th of September. Even then, it’s small and ordinary. The water temperature is a warm 82°F with an anomaly of 1°F, so it’s pretty average for this time of year – nothing weird there. The water is warm, but the waves are not.

If you’re a kite surfer, those afternoons with solid onshore wind and a bit of chop might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer, it’s a long wait for very little pay-off. Keep your eye on the next forecast, because this one is a bust.

Rusty.

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