Shark Island (Cronulla) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab your wettie, let’s get into it for Shark Island (Cronulla). It’s a reef set-up, pretty exposed, and likes a good south-east pulse.

Right now, the local water temp is sitting at 62°F, so about a degree and a half cooler than your average for this time of year – feels a bit nippier than normal, so you’ll want that 4/3. Looking over the next couple of weeks, it’s a pretty flat start with not much to offer.

Sunday morning’s got a weak 4ft south swell but the wind is all messy cross-shore, and the energy is moderate (256), but it’s just not coming together. Monday and Tuesday stay around that 3ft mark with cross and cross-onshore winds – surf is ordinary to poor. It’s basically a stretch of small, weak waves with bad wind. This drought lasts a solid four or five days.

Things get a little more interesting Thursday the 27th. The morning offers a pulse up to 5ft from the south, with energy picking up to 335. The wind is light and cross, but it’s borderline, tricky tide, so not quite clean. By Friday the 28th we get a clean 3ft south swell with a light cross-offshore breeze – that’s actually surfable. Saturday the 29th stays on the small side (3ft) but cross-off wind means it’s at least neat and tidy for a paddle.

Now. The real standout is Monday the 31st of August. It’s a glassy morning with a 2ft south swell but here’s the kicker – the period is a massive 19 seconds. That’s very long period groundswell, giving it more push than you’d expect from the height. The energy readings hit 399 (moderate-strong for that size). Because this is a reef break, that long-period groundswell will line up nicely, giving you clean, groomed lines. This is the best window in the entire forecast, but it’s not big – so it's more for the well-timed mid-length or

in the afternoon it gets chopped by onshore breezes, so hit the early.

After that, we ease back into a long flat spell. The first week of September is small and messy, with poor surf being the norm. Tuesday the 1st gives a small 3ft southerly with a 13-second period, but the cross winds spoil it. Thursday the 3rd offers a bump to 4ft from the SSE but short period – the energy (224) is moderate but the period is 7 seconds, so it will be fat and weak, not great for this reef. The rest of the second week just drops off into tiny swell and generally poor conditions. If you don’t hit that Monday the 31st, there’s not much else to get excited about.

So to wrap it up: the first five days are best spent doing other things besides surfing. Glassy Monday the 31st is your one real shot – it’s clean and the period will make it feel way better than the height says. After that, it’s a flat run through to the 7th of September. For the area, this kind of quiet spell happens, but it tends not to stay dead forever. Still, right now, you’ve been warned.

Rusty.

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