Shooting Gallery Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, let's have a look at this coming stretch. Honestly, mate, it’s a tough run ahead. For the next 16 days, there’s nothing I’d call a winner out there. The one spot on the radar is Shooting Gallery, but the conditions just aren’t playing ball.

We’ve got a fair bit of swell rolling in at times – on Thursday the 2nd of July, for example, we’re looking at a 5ft north swell with a 9-second period. The combined energy is moderate, sitting at (456). But here’s the kicker: the wind is all wrong. It’s a cross-shore breeze, 9 mph, and the water’s at 71°, which is pretty average for this time of year. The whole setup just looks messy, with that cross-chop ruining any chance of clean waves. It’s no good for paddling – honestly, with that onshore wind and poor quality, it might be more interesting for the kite crew than us surfers.

Friday the 3rd into the weekend isn’t any better. Swell drops a bit to 5ft, but the wind stays cross or even gets a bit cross-onshore, and the energy pulls back to (335) and then (263) by Saturday. The period stays short, mostly around 9 seconds, and the surf quality is consistently poor. Sunday the 5th sees the swell shrink to 3ft to 3ft with a NW wind picking up to 16 mph, and the energy drops to (153). It’s all a bit of a mess.

The whole first week is a write-off, to be honest. We go from a moderate energy swell down to weak energy by Monday the 6th, with the combined energy reading just (117) and then (64) in the afternoon. The period even drops to 5 seconds by the 7th of July, which is just awful for shaping a wave. The wind never lets up, staying cross or cross-onshore the whole time.

Into the second week, from around the 9th of July onwards, we get a bit more swell again – about 4ft to 4ft from the north – but the period is still short, mostly 6 seconds. The energy picks back up to (126) and (167) at points, but again, we’re stuck with moderate cross-onshore winds that keep the surface lumpy and choppy. It’s just not surfable. As we go towards the 16th and 17th of July, the wind even gets up to 16-19 mph, and the energy stays around (178) and (139), but it’s all onshore junk.

So, there’s no standout here. No session to get excited about. The whole 16-day window is basically a gap with no recommendations. It’s a flat spell where the conditions never come together. Sometimes that’s just how it goes around here – a blank run is more normal than you’d think, but forecasts can always change, so keep an eye on it.

Rusty.

Read more