Redwood Creek Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’m gonna be straight with you – for Redwood Creek, this 16-day run is a tough watch. There’s a lot of marginal and poor surf, with only a few brief windows where it cleans up to what you’d actually call a session.

The overall pattern is dominated by cross-onshore or onshore wind from the NNW to NW nearly every day, which keeps the river mouth scrappy. The water’s sitting at a touch warmer than normal, about 15°, but you’ll be more worried about the chop than the temp.

First up, Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th are a no-go. Small WNW swell of about 3 ft on Thursday, but the cross-on wind from the NNW at 9 mph makes it choppy and poor. Friday brings a weird mix with a 2 ft SW groundswell on the afternoon, period hitting 16 seconds, but again that NNW cross-on wrecks it.

Saturday the 29th stays ugly. A 2 ft to 3 ft SW swell with a very long 18-second period, but a moderate NNW breeze at 12 mph in the afternoon creates choppy, messy conditions. The combined energy spikes to 631 on the afternoon, which is moderate, but it’s not doing you any favours.

Sunday the 30th: morning has a small 3 ft SW groundswell with the wind turning light offshore from the NW – tricky to call, but rated marginal. By the afternoon, the swell jumps to 7 ft from the NW, period only 8 seconds, with a cross-on breeze. That’s a messy, short-period wall of whitewater. Combined energy is 732 – moderate to strong – but it’s not clean.

Monday the 31st and Tuesday the 1st of September: nothing exciting. Small SW and NW swells around 2 ft to 4 ft, mostly cross-onshore. Tuesday afternoon is the first real standout of the whole forecast: at Redwood Creek, a 4 ft NW swell with glassy conditions – still wind from the NW at just 3 mph, dead calm. Expect good surf conditions. It won’t be huge, but it’ll be clean.

Wednesday the 2nd and Thursday the 3rd of September: back to marginal. Swell around 3 ft to 4 ft, mostly NW or SW direction, with light cross-onshore winds. Nothing to get excited about.

Now here’s the big one. Friday the 4th of September: morning brings a 7 ft NW swell with an 11-second period. Combined energy hits 1385, which is strong. The wind is a light cross-onshore from the NW at 6 mph. That’s solid size and nice period, but it’s not perfectly clean. For experts only. The afternoon stays at 7 ft but the wind picks up to 9 mph and adds chop.

Saturday the 5th of September: swell drops to 5 ft from the NW, period 10 seconds. Morning has a light offshore from the WNW at 3 mph – that’s clean and marginal. Combined energy is 669, moderate. Worth a look if you’re keen and the tide works.

Sunday the 6th of September onwards: the swell fades. By Tuesday the 8th of September, the first afternoon of that week has a tiny 2 ft SW groundswell, very long period of 18 seconds, with glassy conditions. Expect good surf. It’s small but clean.

Thursday the 10th of September: another glassy window – 3 ft SW groundswell, 15-second period, and dead calm from the WNW. Expect good surf conditions.

Friday the 11th of September: the last afternoon is a repeat – 3 ft SW groundswell, 15 seconds, glassy. Expect good surf.

So the absolute standout for the whole period is Friday the 4th of September morning – that 7 ft NW swell with an 11-second period and light cross-onshore. It’s expert territory, but the energy is there. The smaller glassy windows on Tuesday 1st September afternoon, Tuesday 8th September afternoon, Thursday 10th September afternoon, and Friday 11th September afternoon are your clean but tiny alternatives. Redwood Creek is a river mouth that rarely breaks, so these windows matter.

A blank run like this is more normal for the area. Forecasts can shift, but right now, I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

Rusty

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