Shark Island (Cronulla) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s coming our way at Shark Island (Cronulla). It’s been a bit quiet to start, but hold onto your board – the back half of this week and next week have some serious potential, especially for the more experienced crew.

Right now, Friday afternoon the 3rd is flat and not worth a second look – just 1ft of weak, short-period NE windswell and a fresh cross-off wind. The water is sitting at 65°, which is pretty normal for this time of year.

Saturday the 4th is still marginal. Morning sees a 4ft S swell at 11 seconds, with moderate energy (296), but the wind is cross-off and the conditions are just average. Afternoon drops a little to 3ft S swell with a period of 9 seconds (168 energy) – surfable but nothing to get excited about.

Now, Sunday morning the 5th is where things start to wake up. We’ve got a solid 10ft S swell rolling in with a 10-second period and massive energy (1729). That’s a fair bit of power – this is expert territory at over 8ft. The wind is offshore SSW, so it’ll be clean, but the size and the beach/reef setup mean it’s not for the faint-hearted. Afternoon stays big at 8ft S but gets chopped up by a cross-off breeze.

Monday the 6th and Tuesday the 7th hold onto that elevated swell, around 7ft to 8ft from the SSE. Tuesday morning is the standout here: offshore SSW wind, clean, and solid 7ft SSE swell at 10 seconds (938 energy). The conditions are very good, but again, this is for experienced surfers only.

The absolute pick of the forecast is Wednesday morning the 8th. We’ve got an excellent 8ft SSE groundswell (period 10 seconds) with a huge wall of energy (2017). The wind is offshore from the SSW, so it’ll be clean and powerful. This is an “excellent surf conditions for experienced surfers” call, and for a reef break like Shark Island, that’s about as good as it gets. The swell direction from the SSE matches the optimum SE direction really nicely. Expect it to be working perfectly, though with that quality, it’ll be popular, so crowds are possible.

Thursday morning the 9th is almost a copy-paste – another 8ft SSE swell, 10-second period, and a massive 2058 energy reading. Offshore wind again. Another top-tier session for the advanced crew.

Things ease back a bit over the weekend of the 11th and 12th. Saturday the 11th has a nice 5ft SE swell (368 energy) with light offshore wind in the morning, then on Saturday afternoon it goes glassy with a 4ft SE swell. That’s a lovely window for a more relaxed session, and with the glassy surface, it’ll be smooth. Sunday the 12th drops right off to small and weak, with poor conditions.

Then there’s a big gap: from Sunday the 12th afternoon right through to Monday the 13th it’s all poor, small surf. Tuesday the 14th is interesting but tricky – a big, long-period S swell arrives at 12ft (12 seconds! Very long period groundswell) and massive 5472 energy. That’s a lot of water moving. For a reef like Shark Island, that long period will produce extremely clean, powerful lines, but it’s only for experts and the tide may be an issue. Wind is cross-off. It’s a solid option if you’re experienced, but be careful.

The rest of the second week (15th to 18th July) drops back to smaller, wind-affected surf with very strong offshore winds. Wednesday morning the 15th has a 6ft S swell but with a fresh 35 km/h offshore that’s hard to paddle into. The rest is mostly below 3ft and not worth the effort.

So, bottom line: Wednesday morning the 8th and Thursday morning the 9th are your absolute standouts – big, clean, powerful SSE groundswell with offshore wind. For the less intense weekend, Saturday the 11th afternoon with glassy conditions is lovely and mellow. The long-range Tuesday the 14th has size but calls for respect.

Stay safe, and I’ll see you out there.

Rusty.

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