Reef Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here, and I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough one to write. Looking at the whole 16-day window for The Reef, there's just no surf worth paddling out for. It's a blank run, plain and simple. Every single session from now through to the 3rd of August is rated as poor surf conditions. The swell is tiny, the wind is never on our side, and there's no standout day to save the run.

The Reef is a fairly consistent exposed reef break, so it tends to get waves more often than not. This kind of dry spell isn't totally normal, but we've all seen it before. The forecasts can always change, so don't chuck the board in the back of the shed just yet.

We kick off the first week. Sunday the 19th morning, we've got a 3ft swell from the NNW, period a short 6 seconds, but with a cross-onshore wind at 12 mph, the ocean is choppy and messy. The combined energy is weak at 66. It's the same story all week: small, weak swells, and the wind stays cross or cross-onshore from the NNW or NW, never giving us a clean face. Monday the 20th, Tuesday the 21st, Wednesday the 22nd, Thursday the 23rd, Friday the 24th – it's all the same. Tiny waves, 0.7ft to 3ft, and the wind is always messing things up. The combined energy stays below 100, weak.

Saturday the 25th offers a bit of a size increase, but it's still a low period 5-second swell and the wind is howling cross-shore at 19 mph from the NNW. The energy is still weak at 55. Sunday the 26th and Monday the 27th are more of the same: small, weak, and lumpy.

The second week rolls in and there's finally a glimmer of clean conditions. Wednesday the 29th morning, we get a light cross-offshore breeze from the NE at 6 mph, and the water is clean. But the swell is only 1ft. It's a long period groundswell of 11 seconds, so the energy is there for its size, but it's still just ankle-biters. The same goes for the morning of Thursday the 30th – a clean cross-offshore from the SE at 12 mph, but again, only 1ft of swell. Saturday the 1st of August morning, another clean morning with a light cross-offshore from the N, but the swell is still 1ft. It's frustrating.

The best we get is on the 2nd of August, Sunday morning. A 1ft WNW swell with a long 12-second period, but the wind is a moderate cross-shore at 12 mph, creating a bit of a cross-chop. The combined energy finally climbs to 85 – still weak. By Sunday afternoon, the swell lifts to 2ft, the period is 12 seconds, and the energy hits 146 (moderate), but the wind is still cross-shore and lumpy. Monday the 3rd of August keeps the 2ft swell, but the wind is strong and the energy drops back to 100.

So, what's the call? For a surfer, there's nothing here. The waves are too small, the wind is predominantly cross or onshore, and the water temp is about 69°F, which is normal for this time of year based on the anomaly. If you're a kite surfer, the combo of steady cross-shore winds and a little bit of texture on the water might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer? Forget it. There's no standout session. The most promising are the clean mornings on the 29th, 30th, and 1st of August, but with only 1ft to 1ft of swell, it's barely a ripple. Hang in there, mates.

Rusty.

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