Shelley Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, I’m Rusty. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ at Shelley Beach.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a bit of a mixed bag. The next 16 days start with some proper clean conditions, but the ocean turns nasty pretty quick. The standout session is Saturday morning, 4 July – it’s the one to circle. You’ve got a clean 4ft south swell rolling in with an 11-second period, and a light offshore WNW breeze at just 3 mph will have it looking like glass. Combined wave energy is a solid moderate 369 – enough to push you along without being a handful. That’s the pick of the whole run, no question.

Now, after that Saturday morning, the wheels fall off. Saturday arvo goes cross-onshore, and then from Sunday morning, 5 July, right through to Friday morning, 10 July, the wind is howling from the south or southwest at 16 to 22 mph, and the swell jumps up to 8ft to 10ft. That’s too big for beginners and frankly, the wind messes it up completely – lumpy, choppy, cross-onshore junk. The water’s energy readings spike up strong territory (values between 975 and 3463 for those days—these are serious numbers), but worthless waves for paddlin’ into. Honestly, looks more suited to kite foilers than surfers most of that stretch.

Afternoon wind Wednesday 8 July morning… ya get a glimpse of hope on Wednesday morning with WSW 12 mph cross-offshore wind cleaning up an 8ft swell, moderate energy at 2714 . Tide might still be an issue, hailed as marginal conditions. Thursday morning the 9th,the same-sized swell scoops up cross-offshore wind wind 19 then becomes junk by the afternoon. Not really my pick for heading down.

Friday morning the 10th swell drops to 7ft, moderate energy, yet still cross-onshore messy conditions.

We get a gap of real junk days for a week—the next genuine clean surf doesn’t show again until Saturday morning, 11 July. That morning delivers a 5ft south-southeast swell, 9-second period, light offshore cross-offshore breeze from the west at 6 mph. Energy’s back down to moderate 398, and it’s clean—so it’s a runner for a small-wave cruise, but not the stand-out.

Sunday morning the 12th has a lovely offshore west wind at 12 mph, but the swell is tiny, only 3ft from east-southeast with a 12-second period – too weak, energy a low 327. Clean though.

From there, Tuesday morning the 14th borderline with 6ft south swell and 9-second period, clean with westerly offshore winds, moderate energy at 514—worth a look for the desperate. Wednesday morning the 15th a similar 5ft south swell but cross-shore winds leave it messy.

After Friday 17 July, the swell drops to 3ft–3ft and the period goes short (7–8 seconds), weak energy down to 137–254 – just small, weak and sloppy. The last morning, 19 July, might be clean with 3ft east swell, 7 seconds, and cross-offshore breeze, but it’s barely surfable.

Bottom line: if you can get out Saturday morning, 4 July, you’ll score the best clean waves of the whole run. After that, only a handful of marginal windows pop up over the next two weeks.

Stay salty.
Rusty

Read more