Pennington Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's cookin' for our stretch of coast over the next couple of weeks. The first few days are pretty ordinary, but there's some proper grunt on the way if you can wait for it.

We're starting off with a bit of a slow burner. Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th offer nothing to get excited about. The swell is around 3 to 5 feet with a weak, unimpressive energy. Winds are mostly cross or cross-off, but the quality just isn't there to make it worthwhile. You'd be doing more paddlin' than surfin'. We've got a gap there for a couple of days until things start to look interesting.

Now, Friday the 28th things get real. That’s your standout window right there. We've got a solid 6 feet of SSW groundswell pumping in with a long 17-second period, and the energy is strong, building to about (1703). Come the afternoon, the wind drops to glassy – dead glassy – and the swell is still a clean 5 feet. The water temp is sitting at a pretty normal 59° for this time of year, nothing unusual there. This is the one you want to clear your schedule for. It's a little punchy, so more for the experienced crew, but the conditions will be mint.

Through the weekend, it's a mixed bag. Saturday the 29th is a write-off with onshore slop. Sunday the 30th gets a bit of a rebound though: the morning is cross-shore with 4 feet, and the afternoon shows a jump to a 5 feet groundswell with a very long 17-second period and some real grunt behind it (2697). That afternoon session at Pennington Bay looks like the real deal with clean, gentle cross-shore conditions. It'll be a bit shifty on the sandbar with that long period, but the power is there.

Monday the 31st is your second top pick. Clean, clean, clean. A solid 5 to 6 feet S swell, 15 to 17-second period, and light to moderate offshore wind from the north. The wave energy is cranking – up around (2196) in the arvo. This is big, powerful, and clean; it's a proper groundswell, so the sandbar at Pennington Bay might get a bit straight, but it'll be well-shaped and the paddling will be easy between sets. This one is for the experienced surfers exclusively.

The first week of September is pretty average. The 1st and 2nd of September are plagued by fresh onshore winds and choppy conditions, not worth the effort. The 3rd sees rain and howling onshores with a messy 7 to 8 feet – just ugly.

Now, for the second week – and this is a big one – we've got a monster pulse showing up around the 4th and 5th of September. The swell is predicted to be a massive 10 to 12 feet. That kind of size is pure big-wave territory and frankly, it's just too much for the break. The energy numbers are off the charts (up to 8649), so if you’re a proper charger, Friday the 4th has light offshore winds and 12 feet. But let's be clear: this is only for experts, and even then, it's on the ragged edge. It settles down a touch by Saturday the 5th with a 10 feet SSW swell and clean cross-off winds in the afternoon – a good day for the very experienced.

After that, early the next week (6th and 7th September) we see the swell dropping back to a more manageable 4 to 7 feet, but the wind window gets tricky again, with onshore slop returning on Monday. Then we see another big, windy, and messy pulse around the 8th, 9th, and 10th. If you’re a hardcore big-wave surfer, the 10th of September has a 10 feet S groundswell and glassy conditions in the afternoon – that's another window for the brave, but it’s a long way out and less certain.

Summin' it up: Friday the 28th and Monday the 31st of August are your absolute best bets for good, clean power without the ridiculous size. After that, it gets big and rowdy.

Rusty, signing off.

Read more