Sandtracks Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, listen up. Rusty here. We’ve got a bit of a tricky one on the cards for the next couple of weeks. There’s surf on the way, but we’re gonna have to wade through some ordinary, blown-out days to get to the good stuff.

The first real window we’re looking at is Thursday the 20th. Sandtracks (this reef setup) is calling our name. It’s small, around 2ft, but that southwest swell is hanging around 17-18 seconds, which is proper groundswell. The water’s 81°, which is about average for this time of year, and the energy is moderate at 434. The real kicker is the wind – Thursday afternoon goes glassy with a bit of southeast air. That’s a serious positive. It’ll be clean, but it’s small, so keep your expectations in check. Friday the 21st looks very similar, with the same knee-to-waist-high surf and an afternoon glass-off. It’s not going to be epic, but it's the best we've got on offer early.

Then the wind gods turn on us. From Saturday the 22nd, through the whole of next week and into the weekend, we get hammered with a fresh to strong east-northeast cross-shore. The swell bumps up a bit, but the quality drops straight out of the water. The combined energy is moderate, but that wind is just going to chew it up. There’s a lot of blown-out, lumpy, cross-chop conditions in this stretch. It's that classic beach setup, but with this wind, honestly, I'd probably be looking at kites rather than a surfboard.

There is a glimmer of hope at the back end. As we move into the final days of August and the very start of September, the energy levels really build. It’s still got a cross-shore wind, but it turns more cross-off and the surf is getting bigger. We're looking at 7ft on Monday the 31st and 8ft on Tuesday the 1st. This is where it gets serious. The energy readings are strong to very strong at 2862 and 2523, which is a massive step up. However, this is a long way out, so treat it as promising but with a pinch of salt.

The standouts? Not much competition, really. The best quality-to-size ratio is that Thursday the 20th and Friday the 21st afternoon session. It’s small, but clean. For pure size and power, the window around Monday the 31st and Tuesday the 1st of September has the potential to be the pick, but the wind will be testing and it could be a real handful. The swell direction is ENE, which isn't quite what Sandtracks wants, but the power is undeniable. Everything after that starts to back off and gets a bit sketchy again.

All right, that’s the picture. It’s a long stretch with not much to get overly excited about until the very end. Keep an eye on that late-August pulse.

Rusty.

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