Southerndown Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, it’s Rusty here. Let’s talk about the next couple weeks of surf, and I’ll be honest with you, it looks pretty slow to start. We’ve got a long stretch of flatness and weak waves before anything with any real size shows up, and that comes with a catch.

The first few days are a total write-off. Tuesday the 11th, there’s nothing but a clean little 0.2m ripple on the morning, with almost no energy behind it (9). The water is a warm 69°, which is well above normal for this time of year, so that’s something. Wednesday and Thursday stay weak, with the swell just slowly climbing to 0.7m, but the winds are cross-shore, making it a bit lumpy. There’s a bit more energy on Thursday arvo (167), but it’s still not doing anything for me.

We get some cleaner windows on Friday morning the 14th and Saturday morning the 15th, with some offshore flow keeping the surface tidy. But the swell is still just a foot or two (0.6m), weak and lacking any punch. It’s fine for a learner or a longboard, but don’t expect any power. Then we go back to almost nothing for a few days. The 16th is glassy with a 0.3m dribble, and the 17th and 18th are similar, with the odd clean 0.6m if the wind is right. It’s a patience game.

The second week isn't much better, size-wise, until we see a big increase on the 23rd, but the wind is on it. Sunday the 23rd brings some size, with 1.0m in the morning and 1.6m in the afternoon, but it’s cross-on and lumpy. Not the clean conditions we’re looking for.

Then we get to Monday the 24th of August. This is where the ocean gets angry. A solid swell is pumping, with the morning seeing 2.5m faces and brutal onshore winds at 45 km/h. The energy is massive (1384), but the quality is zero. Southerndown is a fairly exposed beach, and with that strong onshore wind, it’s going to be a complete mess—a blown-out, choppy disaster. The swell direction is WSW, and the period is around 10 seconds, but it won’t matter with that wind. This is expert territory, and even then, it will be more of a survival mission than a fun surf. It might be more interesting for the kite-surfers to be honest. It backs down a bit on the 25th, but it’s still over 1.8m with a strong breeze, so it stays lumpy and messy.

So, the long and short of it is: there is no true standout session in this run. The best bet for clean waves is the small stuff early on, but it’s tiny. The big swell at the end is just a windy, blown-out mess. If you’re itchy, the morning of the 15th has a clean 0.6m with a light offshore. The 23rd has the most size, but the wind will ruin it for everyone.

Keep an eye on the charts, but don’t get your hopes up for a classic. The water is warm, which is nice. I’d say sit tight, and wait for the wind to ease off.

Catch you later.

Rusty

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