Red Island Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on offer at Red Island.

First up, the overall pattern. Red Island is a beach and reef set-up, exposed to the south-east, but the wind gods aren't playing nice for most of this run. We've got a few windows of clean surf, but a lot of the time the breeze is going to mess things up. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing to write home about.

We start off on Sunday the 9th with a bit of a mixed bag. The morning is cloudy with a 4ft SSE swell at 10 seconds. It's cross-offshore, so it'll be clean, but the energy is just moderate (592). The afternoon holds a better 13-second period on the 4ft SSE swell, but the wind stays cross-off. These are small, clean options for a beginner.

Monday the 10th drops off significantly. Morning has a weak 3ft SSE swell (202) with a light cross-off breeze, but it's small and ordinary. The afternoon is a write-off with poor conditions.

A bigger pulse arrives Tuesday the 11th. The morning shows a 6ft SSW swell, but it's a short-period 8-second windswell and the wind is cross-shore. It's not worth paddling out for.

Wednesday the 12th morning is the first real standout. A clean 5ft SE swell (469) with a cross-offshore northerly breeze. The energy is moderate, but the quality will be there. This is your best bet for the first week. The afternoon gets blown out.

Thursday the 13th and Friday the 14th are a mess of strong cross-shore winds and poor conditions, with a 7ft NE windswell on Friday that has solid energy (1023) but is totally unsurfable in that wind.

Now, here's the standout of the whole outlook. Saturday the 15th morning. Glassy conditions with a light south-westerly and a solid 7ft easterly groundswell at 10 seconds (969). That's a powerful, clean wave. It's over 5ft, so it'll be pushing the limits for beginners, but for anyone with a bit of experience, this is the session to aim for.

The rest of the 16-day run is mostly a battle with strong south-westerly winds and big, messy swell. Sunday the 16th brings an 8ft S swell (1426), but it's blown out. The 17th sees a massive 12ft SSW swell (4228) with a 12-second period, but again, the cross-shore wind is a killer. The 18th has a 10ft S swell with a very long 15-second period, but it's blowing a near gale. That 15-second period would be epic at a point or reef, but with that wind, forget it.

From the 19th to the 24th, it's a constant stream of lumpy, blown-out conditions. The swell is often over 8ft, so it's expert-only in the best of times, but with the constant cross and cross-onshore winds, it's a miss for paddle surfing. The set-up is better suited for kites on those days.

There is a small glimmer on Friday the 21st morning with a clean 4ft SSE swell (341) under light north-westerlies, and again on Saturday the 22nd morning with a clean 4ft S groundswell at 12 seconds (463). Those are your consolation prizes in the second week – decent but small.

So to sum it up: if you want the best wave, be there on Saturday the 15th morning for that clean, glassy 7ft east swell. Otherwise, the Wednesday morning before that is your next best bet.

Rusty.

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