Scarborough Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty here.

Honestly, the next couple of weeks are a bit of a flat spell for our stretch of coast. We’re looking at a long run of small, weak surf, and it takes a good while before anything with real push shows up. The first week and a half is going to test your patience—there are days on end where it’s just not worth paddling out. You’ll see some tiny waves, but they’re mostly wind-chopped or just too weak to be any fun.

Things finally start to turn around on Tuesday the 22nd. That’s the standout day in this whole window. We get a proper pulse of east swell pushing in at around 5ft with an 11-second period. The energy jumps right up into the strong range (652) and, with the wind going glassy in the morning and light cross-off in the afternoon, all that new swell will be clean and lined up. This is the one to circle on the calendar. If you can only get out once, make it then.

The day after, Wednesday the 23rd, still has decent size—5ft in the morning—but a northeasterly breeze is going to mess with the surface. It’ll be lumpy and less inviting, so it’s not going to be the same quality as the day before.

After that, we’re back into a slow fade for the rest of the window. The 24th offers a chest-high 3ft with light winds, and it’s surfable, but nothing to write home about. The following days drop off again into the weak and wind-affected category.

We’ll be at Scarborough, on the fairly exposed stretch. West-southwest winds are offshore here, so the cleanest windows are usually in the mornings when those are blowing. A lot of the time, though, the wind swings around onshore and messes things up. The water is sitting at 52°F, which is a touch warmer than usual for this time of year, so at least you won’t be freezing while you wait for better days.

Hang in there. The 22nd is the one, and with the right wind, it’ll be well worth the wait.

Rusty

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