Putsborough Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. Mate, I've gotta be straight with you – this 16-day window for Putsborough is a tough one. There's not a single standout session that I'd get amped about. The pattern is grim right from the start: we see a pulse of decent swell energy arrive, but it's always paired with the wrong wind, which just ruins the surface.

Let's start with the first decent wave of the period. On Sunday the 6th of September, you've got a tiny 2ft swell rolling in from the West with a short, weak period of just 6 seconds. The water's a balmy 66°F, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, so that's a nice surprise at least. The morning has a moderate offshore breeze from the SSE, so it will look clean, but the wave energy is weak (62) and it's a beginner-friendly height. It's surfable but very ordinary, with often crowded conditions. The afternoon goes cross-offshore and the score drops out.

The real story here is the missed opportunities. On Monday the 7th of September, the swell jumps to 5ft with a proper 11-second period, and energy spikes to 800 – that's a solid push of power. But that WNW wind is blowing straight onshore, making it a nasty, messy windswell. That's the story for the next week. Wind after wind from the northwest and west, onshore or cross-onshore, turning every pulse of swell into lumpy, choppy chaos. There is a long stretch from the 7th to the 14th where the conditions are consistently poor. You'll see 5ft to 6ft swells with 13-second periods and energy in the 800s, but the wind is a fresh breeze hitting it from the wrong angle. It's a total write-off.

Heading into the 15th of September, it gets smaller, down to 2ft, but the wind howls from the WSW at 25 to 31 mph, crossing up the surface. At that size and with those 12-second periods, it breaks too straight for a beach break like this anyway. The conditions look more interesting for kite surfing than for paddle surfing, to be honest. The same pattern holds through to the 21st – small swell, wrong wind. On Monday the 21st of September, a 8ft swell from the WSW with an energy of 644 shows up, but it's accompanied by a fresh cross-shore wind, leaving it lumpy and unrideable. It's too big for beginners anyway and only for experts, but the wind kills it.

Honestly, there's not a single day in this 16-day run I'd recommend. The swell shows up, but the wind never cooperates. It's a blank run, and for Putsborough, that's not unusual when the wind stays stubborn.

Rusty.

Read more