Rat Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

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

Well, well, well. Lookin' at the next 16 days, I gotta be straight with you – it's a lean stretch for Rat Beach. There's no real swell pulse to get excited about. The best we've got are a few mornings that clean up nicely, but the waves themselves are just tiny. The first few days are a write-off with poor conditions and choppy onshores. We do have a bit of a gap in the middle where the wind turns offshore, and the last couple of days of the 16-day window show a tiny bit more energy, but it's nothing to write home about. The wait is on for something better.

The water is sitting at a balmy 71°, which is a whopping 6° warmer than usual for this time of year. That's very unusual, so you'll be in boardies for sure.

For the first week, it's a grind. Wednesday morning the 12th has a 2 ft SW swell, but with a messy cross-shore wind, it's a no-go. Thursday morning the 13th is the first to show a bit of promise: a 2 ft SW swell with a cross-off light breeze, making for clean, tiny waves. The combined energy is weak (130). It's surfable but very ordinary. Saturday morning the 15th and Sunday the 16th are similar – clean with a 2 ft wind swell from the W, but again, it's just knee-high dribble.

The real standout, such as it is, lands on Thursday morning, the 20th of August. The swell bumps up to 4 ft from the west, with a 9 mph offshore wind from the southeast. That's a clean, lined-up wave. The combined energy jumps to a moderate 209, so there's a bit more push. The trouble is, the period is a short 6 seconds, so it's a bit of a sloppy wind swell, not a proper groundswell. Still, with offshore winds, it's the best on offer.

Then we get a few more clean mornings, but the swell drops right back. Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd are clean again but with barely a ripple. A long-period 18-second swell rolls in on the 21st, but it's only 1.0 ft – more of a long period cross-up than a rideable wave. Finally, the last morning of the forecast, Thursday the 27th of August, shows a 2 ft SW swell with a 14-second period and a clean cross-off breeze. The combined energy is a solid 319 (moderate), which is the highest in the entire 16-day run. This is the other standout. It's a long-period groundswell that will wrap in nicely, but at 2 ft, it's still small. For a reef setup like Rat Beach, the long period will make it wall up nicely, but the sets will be very spaced out. It's a promising but uncertain call for that far out.

Given the tiny size and the constant onshore chop in the afternoons for most of the period, the setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing on most days.

Rusty.

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