North Stradbroke - Pt Lookout Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s talk about what’s shaping up for Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island over the next couple of weeks. To be straight with you, this is a frustrating run. There’s not much to get excited about, and the first real window of clean, surfable waves doesn’t show up until Thursday the 21st of August, a full week and a half from now. Before that, we’ve got a long stretch of poor conditions, with a couple of brief moments that tease but don’t deliver.

The water temp is sitting at about 69°F, which is pretty much normal for this time of year – nothing out of the ordinary there.

Right now, through the weekend and into early next week, the swell is small or messy, and the wind is howling. Thursday the 15th and Friday the 16th see south-southeast winds cranking at 22–25 mph, blowing straight offshore, but the swell is tiny – 1 ft to 5 ft – and with period as low as 6 seconds, it’s just not worth the paddle. That strong offshore wind might look clean on paper, but it’s hard to paddle into and the wave shape is poor. The combined energy on Sunday morning is still moderate (194), but it’s short-period junk. This stretch is more suited to a kite session than a surf.

Monday the 18th through Wednesday the 20th sees the swell bump up a bit – 5 ft to 7 ft from the east-southeast – but the wind stays strong, 19–25 mph from the southeast, cross-off or cross. The combined energy jumps into the moderate to strong range (440–624), but the conditions are “poor surf” across the board. Periods are short, around 7–8 seconds, so the waves are going to be fat and bumpy. Not your day.

Now Thursday the 21st of August is the one bright spot, and it’s legit. For the morning, we’ve got a clean 5 ft east swell with a 8-second period, light southeast breeze at 6 mph, cross-off and pure. The combined energy is still moderate (308), but the conditions are glassy and the wave quality is marked as decent. This is the standout morning of the whole outlook. Point Lookout, with its east-facing exposure, will pick this up clean. It’s not huge, but it’s surfable and uncrowded at that hour. Grab it if you can – this is the best you’re going to get in the next 16 days.

After that, we tail off. Saturday the 23rd has a small 4 ft swell, but the wind turns onshore and choppy. Sunday the 24th morning has a tiny 2 ft east swell with a clean offshore breeze, but it’s just too small to get excited about. The rest of the week into late August is flat and forgettable, with swell dropping to 1–2 ft and onshore winds taking over.

So bottom line: there’s a genuine wait. If you’re keen, pencil in Thursday the 21st of August, early. That’s your best shot. Otherwise, it’s a pretty dry run for Point Lookout.

Rusty.

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