Sandy Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be real about Sandy Beach for the next couple of weeks. It’s a rough stretch.

The whole 16-day run is a long grind of poor conditions. There isn’t a single standout session across the entire forecast. The wind is relentless, coming out of the ENE almost the whole time, which is cross-shore or cross-onshore here. That’s going to keep the ocean lumpy, choppy, and messy. The swell is mostly short period windswell (8 seconds or less), disorganised, and blown out. The best advice I can give is to keep an eye on the charts – conditions like this don’t usually stay poor forever, and a forecast change could turn things around.

We start right now, on Friday the 31st of July. The morning shows 6 ft of ENE swell at an 8-second period, but the wind is a strong 25 mph cross-shore. That’s a mess. The combined energy is moderate at 687. By the afternoon, the swell bumps up to 7 ft, but the wind is still hammering it. The same story repeats into Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd of August – swell gets up to 10 ft on Saturday morning, which is solid (energy at 1394), but it’s blown to bits by strong cross-shore winds. The period stays at 8 seconds, so it’s all windswell. That big swell is only for experts, and even then, it won’t be pretty.

Monday the 3rd sees the swell drop to 5 ft - 6 ft, but the wind is still a fresh 19 mph cross-shore. The water temp is about average for this time of year, nothing unusual. The whole first week is a write-off.

On Tuesday the 4th of August, we get a little change. The swell drops to 5 ft - 5 ft, but the period stretches to 11 seconds, bringing in some longer-period groundswell energy. The combined energy is moderate at 653. The wind is still cross-shore, though down to a moderate 12 mph. The conditions go from “poor” to “marginal.” It’s not good, but it’s the least bad session in the first week. The cross-chop will still be there, so don’t expect perfection.

Then we hit a gap. From Wednesday the 5th through to Sunday the 9th, it’s back to poor surf conditions with short period swell and moderate to fresh cross-shore winds. The swell stays between 4 ft and 7 ft, but it’s all messy. Not worth paddling out.

The second week starts on Monday the 10th of August. The swell drops dramatically to 3 ft, but the period jumps to 16 seconds from the SSW. That’s a very long period groundswell. The combined energy is moderate at 779. The wind is still cross-onshore, though, so the surface will be choppy. It’s a “poor” call. The size is tiny, and the wind is wrong. Long period swells like this are fussy – they need a clean face to work, and they aren’t getting it here.

From Tuesday the 11th through to the end of the forecast on Saturday the 15th of August, the swell stays very small – 2 ft to 3 ft – with long periods from the south. The wind is still from the ENE, mostly cross or cross-onshore. The combined energy drops to between 247 and 555. The most promising session in this whole run is probably Friday the 14th of August. The morning has 2 ft of S swell at 14 seconds, with a gentle 9 mph cross-shore wind. The afternoon is even lighter, with a light 6 mph breeze and a 19-second period – that’s extremely long. The combined energy is 490. It’s only marginal, but it’s the closest we get to clean. The waves will be small and slow, with long waits between sets. It’s a tricky call for a longboard on a very calm day.

So, to sum it up: there’s no real winner here. The whole 16-day window is dominated by strong cross-shore winds and messy, short period swell. The two mildly better moments are the morning of Tuesday the 4th of August, with a moderate cross-shore and 11-second groundswell, and the afternoon of Friday the 14th of August, with very light wind and a super long period south swell. Neither is a standout. For experienced surfers, the bigger 10 ft day on the 1st of August is big, but it’s blown out. Honestly, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing, given the consistent cross-shore wind and the size.

Stay patient, and check back in a few days.

Rusty.

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