Rest Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's take a good, hard look at what Rest Bay has got cookin' for us.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you. The next week and a half is looking pretty grim for a proper surf. We've got a long stretch of small, wind-affected slop. The first real hope doesn't show up until Friday the 18th of September, and even that's a whisper.

The Overall Pattern
We’re looking at a long, drawn-out period of weak, short-period swell coming mostly from the WSW and W. The wind is going to be a real pain for most of it, blowing onshore or cross-onshore, keeping things lumpy and choppy. The wave energy numbers tell the story – they’re mostly weak to moderate, but they quickly drop into the double digits for the majority of the period. It’s a classic flat spell.

The Good (Sort Of)
There's only one day that even gets a sniff of a score, and that's Friday the 18th of September. The morning session is the only one that registers as "surfable" on the charts. We're looking at a clean, glassy start with a tiny 3ft swell from the W. The energy is weak, just 100, but the wind is glassy. It’ll be a morning for a log or a longboard, just to get wet. By the afternoon, the wind swings back onshore, so don't sleep in.

The Rest of the Period
From the 14th right through to the 29th of September, it's a lot of the same story. Small waves, crappy wind. The water temp is sitting around 66°, which is a whopping 6° warmer than usual for this time of year – that’s very unusual, so you might not need the thickest wetsuit, but you’ll still be waiting for a wave. From the 21st onwards, we see some glassy or clean-offshore mornings, but the swell drops to knee-high or less (1ft to 2ft). There are a few days with longer-period swell (11s, 13s, 14s) in the second week, like on the 29th, which would usually be exciting, but the swell height is so tiny (0.7ft, 1ft) it’s just a ripple. The energy on those days is very weak (2 to 33).

The Verdict
Honestly, the pick of the entire 16-day window is the Friday 18th of September morning session. It's the only time the wind and swell line up to give you anything remotely clean, even if it's small. For everything else, you're better off waxing the kiteboard or waiting for the next real swell. The forecasts can change, but as it stands, it's a tough run for Rest Bay.

Stay patient,
Rusty.

Read more