Saint Annes Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s be straight – it’s a tough run for Saint Annes over the next fortnight. The surf is small, the winds are mostly cross-shore or cross-onshore, and the quality just isn’t there. Don’t get your hopes up. For most of the period, you’re looking at poor surf conditions with scores that barely register. There’s not a single standout session to get excited about.

It starts on Thursday morning, 13 August, with a weak 2ft SSW swell, but the period is 16 seconds – that’s a long-period groundswell, which means long waits between sets, and the wind is onshore from the SSW at 6 mph. Poor conditions. The afternoon doesn’t improve. Friday the 14th sees a tiny 2ft SSW swell in the morning, cross-onshore west wind at 6 mph, and the water temp anomaly is… well, it’s not mentioned as anything unusual, so expect it to be about average for this time of year. The swell energy is moderate in the low hundreds, but the surf is still poor.

Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th keep the same pattern: 3ft to 4ft SSW swell, period around 16 seconds, but light cross-onshore winds and cross-shore winds keep it messy. Combined swell energy stays in the 500-700 range (moderate), but with poor surf quality, it’s not doing you any favours. Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th are similar, though Tuesday afternoon brings a jump to 8ft from the WNW but only 8 seconds – short-period windswell, very weak energy, and moderate cross-shore wind. That’s more of a messy, lumpy affair.

Wednesday 19th through to Thursday 20th sees the swell drop back, but still poor surf. Even Friday 21st has a 3ft WNW swell with 11 seconds, but cross-shore wind keeps it choppy. Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd are tiny – 1ft to 2ft – you’d be lucky to find a rideable wave. The whole second week from 22 August onward is a write-off: small swell, light winds but always cross-onshore, and poor surf conditions. There’s a brief flicker on Thursday 27 August morning with a 4ft WNW swell and 7-second period, but it’s marginal and cross-shore wind again. Not worth planning around.

Honestly, unless you’re kiting, this stretch is a bust. The combined swell energy never gets strong enough (stays in the hundreds, mostly under 1000), and the short-period WNW swells that show up are just windswell, breaking sloppy on the reef. The optimum swell direction for Saint Annes is WNW, and while some swells come from that direction, the wind is never clean offshore. The crowd situation here is “often” busy, but with surf this poor, you’ll have it to yourself anyway.

Bottom line: no good surf options in this 16-day window. For this area, a blank run like this isn’t unusual – it tends to stay poor for stretches. Forecasts can change, but right now, leave the board at home.

Rusty

Read more