Rainbow Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks. Rusty here. Let's get into it.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a solid run of surf on the way at Rainbow Bay. The pattern is building through the weekend and next week, before it tapers off and gives us a long gap. The water temp is sitting at 71°, which is bang on average for the time of year, so no need for the thick wetsuit just yet.

We start Saturday afternoon July 4th with small, clean waves about 3 feet from the ESE. It’s a cross-off wind, so the face will be tidy, but with a combined swell energy of 444 (moderate), it’s just a warm-up. The real action kicks off Sunday morning July 5th. Offshore wind from the S, swell picking up to 4 feet from the SSE, and the energy jumps to 458. It’s building, and it feels good.

But here’s where it gets proper. Monday July 6th, the swell jumps to 10 feet from the SSE. Now, that’s a big jump. With a period of just 8 seconds, it’s a short-interval wind swell, so it’ll be a bit walled up and punchy. The energy is into four digits (1286), so there’s real grunt in the water. This is expert territory only—over 8 feet, it’s not for the faint-hearted. The winds stay offshore, so it’ll be clean, but that raw power is the main story.

Tuesday July 7th is the standout. Swell holds at 10 feet from the SSE, the period stretches to 10 seconds, and the wind is still offshore. The combined energy hits 1636 in the morning and then an impressive 2085 in the afternoon. That means excellent, powerful waves with proper shape. For experienced surfers, this is as good as it gets. The only caveat: this is a point break, which will handle that long-period energy beautifully, but it can also get a bit wonky if the swell is too straight. Here, it’s angled just right from the SSE, so the point should line up nicely.

Wednesday July 8th keeps the quality up. Still 10 feet, still offshore, but now the period stretches to 11-12 seconds, and the energy peaks at 2412. That’s big groundswell territory. Again, it’s for the experienced crew. Thursday morning July 9th holds similar excellence at 8 feet, with energy at 2578—the highest number in the whole run. Then it starts to ease back in the afternoon.

The surf drops to a more manageable 6 to 7 feet through Friday July 10th and Saturday July 11th, with clean conditions and even a glassy morning on Saturday July 11th—wind drops to zero, and it’s just you and the ocean. But by Saturday afternoon, the wind swings cross-on, and the session gets a bit scrappy.

From Sunday July 12th, things go quiet. We’ve got a long gap: small, poor surf through the rest of the second week, with combined energy dropping into the double digits (27, 64, 63). It stays poor until Thursday July 16th, where we start to see a slight pulse back up to 8 feet, but with that short, bumpy period and fresh offshore winds, it’s more of a windswell chop. By July 18th and 19th, we get a final little run of clean, chest-high waves around 6 to 6 feet, with some longer period (11-12 seconds) and clean winds. It’s a decent end to the fortnight, but nothing compared to that mid-first-week peak.

So the standout? Tuesday July 7th through Thursday morning July 9th. That’s your window. Big, powerful, clean waves for the experts. The rest of the run is for the patient ones.

Rusty.

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