Southerndown Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you – this is a grim stretch for Southerndown. We're looking at a 16-day window and honestly, for the first 12 days, you're better off doing something else. The swell is tiny, the wind is all over the place, and the sea just isn't giving up anything rideable. The water is a very unusual 69° – that's much warmer than normal for this time of year, but it's not much use when there's no surf.

We start on Sunday, August 23rd, with a tiny 0.7ft windswell from the WSW. The energy is weak (20), and it's just poor. Sunday afternoon is glassy, but the swell is a pitiful 0.3ft. Monday through Wednesday are no better, with that same near-flatness and a stiff cross-off breeze that, while clean, has nothing to work with.

A bit of a lift comes on Thursday, August 27th, with a 2ft to 3ft swell, but it's short-period (7-8 seconds) and the wind is onshore. It's still poor, but the energy creeps up to 74 – still weak. Friday and Saturday stay small and messy.

Then, on Saturday, August 29th, the swell finally pushes over 3ft. By Saturday afternoon, we're looking at 6ft from the WSW, with a combined energy of 335 (moderate). But the wind is howling onshore from the SW at 22 mph, making it a complete write-off. This pattern of onshore wind and rising swell continues into Sunday, August 30th, with 5ft and 5ft, but the wind is still a fresh cross-onshore, lumping it all up. The energy is solid (300-214), but the quality is zero.

Monday, August 31st, sees the swell drop back to 2ft and the wind goes cross-shore. Not worth a paddle. The whole first week of September is a flat, wind-blown mess.

Now, there is a glimmer. A very distant glimmer. On Friday, September 4th, we finally see something that might work. The morning offers a 6ft swell from the WSW, with a period of 9 seconds. The combined energy shoots up to 1037 (strong), and the wind is a gentle cross-onshore (9 mph). The data says it's "marginal" and the score is low, but compared to the desert before it, this is the only pulse with any real push. The wind is light, so the surface won't be a total washing machine. The swell is 6ft, so it's a touch too big for beginners. After that, it's back to onshore wind and building swell, with Monday, September 7th showing a 10ft monster, but it's being blown to bits by a near-gale (31 mph) cross-onshore wind. That's strictly for experts with a death wish, and even then, it'll be a battle.

So, what's the call? The only standout, and I use that word very loosely, is the Friday, September 4th morning session. It's not perfect, but it's the only time in the entire 16 days where the swell has some power and the wind isn't completely ruining it. The swell is 6ft from the WSW, and the light cross-onshore wind (9 mph) means it'll be a bit lumpy, but at least you'll be catching waves. The period is 9 seconds, so it's a short-period windswell, not a clean groundswell. It's a long way out, so don't plan your life around it, but if you're desperate, that's the window.

For the rest of it, with all this onshore wind and building swell on a beach setup, Southerndown looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer.

Rusty out.

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