Sandtracks Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what Sandtracks has in store for us over the next couple weeks. I gotta be straight with you – it’s a rough start. We're looking at a long stretch of poor conditions with hardly anything worth paddling out for until the very end of the period.

The whole first week is a write-off, with winds howling from the east-northeast at 15 to 28 mph, creating nothing but lumpy cross-chop. There’s a tiny window on the 14th with a 2 ft swell, but it’s labelled as marginal and the wind is cross, so you’d be battling for nothing. From the 15th through to the 26th of September, the surf quality tanks completely – mostly zero scores for poor conditions. The swell does build a touch, hitting 6 ft on the 22nd, but with a short period of just 8 seconds and those strong winds, it’s messy and ugly. The combined swell energy gets strong at times, like 1222 on the 17th, but it's all wasted on this onshore wash.

There is one glimmer of hope. You have to wait all the way to Monday the 28th of September. That afternoon looks like the standout of the whole forecast. The wind drops to almost nothing at 3 mph from the east-northeast, going glassy. The swell is a clean 2 ft out of the southwest with a long period of 18 seconds – that’s proper groundswell energy. For a reef break like Sandtracks, that long-period SW swell is exactly what it wants. The water is 81°, which is about average for this time of year. Keep in mind, with a period that long, the sets will be very spaced out, giving you plenty of time to paddle back out. It’s a classy little window, but that’s it.

The run of poor surf before that is nearly two weeks long. It’s a tough stretch. The 29th has some surfable 2 ft swell but with onshore wind, so it’s back to marginal. So really, your one and only shot is that glassy Monday afternoon. Don't hold your breath for the rest.

Let’s hope things change, but for now, that’s the story.

Rusty.

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