Raffs Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s look at the next couple of weeks. The opening stretch is a bit slow, with nothing worth paddling out for until Saturday morning. That’s a couple of days of flat-ish, grovelly conditions to get through first.

The first real chance comes Saturday the 8th. Raffs Beach is showing a 4ft SW groundswell with a long 16-second period. Morning’s the pick, with a moderate offshore breeze keeping things clean. That’s the kind of combo that gets the heart rate up. The combined energy is sitting at 918, which is moderate, and the water temp is about average for this time of year. Saturday afternoon holds up, but the breeze picks up a bit. Sunday’s a write-off – strong winds and poor surf, so give it a miss.

Monday the 10th is where it gets interesting. The swell jumps to 5ft, period stretches to 19 seconds – that’s proper groundswell, long and lined up. Combined energy is up at 1892. Morning’s the go, with a moderate offshore wind. This is the best-looking session of the first week. The swell’s a touch over the 5ft mark, so it’s not for beginners, but for the experienced crew it’ll be firing. Just a heads-up: a period that long can make beach breaks a bit straight, but with that SW direction, it should still have some push.

The middle of the week gets messy. Tuesday’s got some swell, but the winds are all over the place. Wednesday and Thursday it keeps building – 7ft, then 8ft, then 10ft on Thursday. That’s serious size. The combined energy is up over 4000 – strong to very strong. The problem is, by Thursday the swell is predicted to be too big for Raffs. It’ll be a washing machine, and unless you’re an expert, it’s not going to be any fun. Friday’s still 10ft – still too big.

The weekend of the 15th and 16th sees the size back off a bit, but the winds turn onshore and it gets choppy. Not much doing there.

Now, the standout of the entire run is Tuesday the 18th. The swell is down to 3ft, but it’s glassy – dead flat wind, smooth as a lake. The combined energy is 676, moderate, but the period is 14 seconds. This is a clean, fun, user-friendly day. Excellent conditions for a surf. It’s the best quality surf of the whole period when you weigh it all up.

After that, Wednesday the 19th afternoon offers another good session: 4ft of SW groundswell, 17-second period, and a moderate offshore wind. Clean and punchy.

The last real day of note is Friday the 21st. Some 4ft swell with a shorter 14-second period. It’s surfable, but the magic’s gone. By the 22nd, it fades right off – 2ft and then 2ft. That’s the end of the run. All in all, Monday the 10th and Tuesday the 18th are your standouts. The 10th for the size and power, the 18th for the glassy perfection. The rest is a mixed bag of too-big, onshore, or just small.

Rusty, signing off.

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