Rest Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right then, let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for Rest Bay. Not gonna lie to ya, it’s a tough stretch ahead. We’ve got a long, long run of real ordinary conditions before anything half decent shows its face.

From now through most of the month, the wind is just relentless. It’s hammering in from the west and northwest, mostly cross-onshore, and that’s absolutely wrecking whatever swell is out there. We’re looking at a solid 8 days straight of poor surf quality, with wave heights bouncing between 2 ft and 5 ft but all of it blown out, lumpy, and choppy. The energy is all over the place, from a weak 108 (moderate wave energy) up to a moderate 354, but it doesn’t matter because the wind just won’t give us a break. The swell is a short-period 7 seconds for most of this, all windswell and no shape to it. Forget about it.

There’s a bit of a tease on the morning of Sunday the 21st when the wind goes glassy, but the swell drops right off to a tiny 2 ft with only 40 (weak wave energy). That’s not worth paddling out for.

Now, the first flash of real hope comes on Tuesday the 22nd of September. It’s still small, at a 2 ft swell from the WSW, but the period stretches to 10 seconds – that’s a bit more of a groundswell pulse. More importantly, the morning is glassy, dead calm. The energy is only 56, so it’s weak, but it’s clean. That’s the best we’ll have seen in two weeks.

The best on offer, and the only real standout, is Wednesday the 23rd of September. We’ve got a light easterly cross-offshore breeze in the morning and afternoon, which means clean conditions. Swell ticks up a bit to 3 ft from the WSW with a 9-second period, and the combined energy sits at a moderate 159. It’s not big, not powerful, but for Rest Bay it’s surfable and clean. This will be the pick of the whole 16-day run. Because the wind is so light and from the east, you’ll get some of the best shaped little waves this place can offer when it’s that small. Keep your expectations low, but this is the window.

After that, it’s back into the doldrums. From the 24th through to the end of the forecast period, the swell drops away to nothing, barely scraping 1 ft, with the energy falling into single digits and weak 9 to 13-second periods. The wind goes clean and offshore again with a lot of clear skies, but there’s just no water moving. It’s a proper flat spell. The last day on the charts, the 30th, shows a tiny bump to 3 ft from the WSW with a 10-second period and moderate energy of 124, with a clean cross-offshore wind, but that’s still mighty small. That’s a mid-week long-range hope for the dedicated.

Honestly, for this stretch, if you’re not on a longboard or a foil, you might be looking at the weather for kite surfing. The setup’s just not there for a proper paddle session for most of it.

Rusty.

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