Stent Road Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, strap in. It’s Rusty here, and we’ve got a proper 16-day story to tell for Stent Road. The opening act is a write-off, so we’re going to have to sit on our hands for a bit before things get interesting.

The first chunk of the window is grim. From Wednesday the 16th right through to Tuesday the 23rd, it’s a mess. The wind is mostly cross-onshore or straight onshore, and the sea state is chopped up, lumpy, and blown out. There’s plenty of swell at times – we’re talking a solid 7.5ft to 13ft on the 17th through the 19th – but it’s useless with that wind. The energy readings are huge (2568, 4133, 7814, even hitting 12272 on the 20th), but none of it translates to surfable waves. It’s just a big, messy, stormy ocean. There’s a stint on the 18th where the morning looks clean, but the tide is questionable and the swell is a chunky 10ft at 11 seconds – a bit of a short-period wall. Not worth paddling out for. This whole stretch is a write-off. Honestly, for a stretch like this, the setup at a beach and reef break with that wind and size looks far more interesting for the kitesurfers than for us paddle surfers.

Then we hit Thursday the 24th. This is where it turns. The sun’s out, there’s a light S cross-off breeze, and the sea is clean. Swell is a solid 8ft from the WSW with a cracking 16-second period. The combined energy is a robust 3250. This is the standout of the whole run, no doubt. It’s a serious, powerful groundswell, and Stent Road (that exposed reef and point) will be handling it. This is a proper, advanced-level day. The period is long, which is great for shape and power on a point, but that 16-second interval means long waits between sets. Paddling out will be easier between the bombs, but you need to know what you’re doing. This is the day to point the car at it. The morning is your window.

After that, the size eases off but the quality remains. Friday the 25th still has clean, cross-off conditions with 7ft dropping to 5ft in the afternoon from the WSW at 14 seconds. It’s a bit more relaxed, but the energy is still there (1724 and 1132). Good surf, but a step down from Thursday.

Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th are interesting for different reasons. Saturday morning is glassy, with the wind going completely dead. The swell is back down to a gentle 3.5ft but still from the SW, and the energy is a weak 521. It’s clean, but small. The standout detail here is that long, glassy period. Sunday morning is similar – glassy again – with a 4ft swell. These are for the longboard or the grovel board, not for the big-wave gun. It’s a far cry from Thursday’s power.

The window fades out from Monday the 28th through Wednesday the 30th. The wind picks up cross-onshore, and the surf gets smaller and lumpy again. There’s a long-period swell (19-20 seconds) on the 28th, but it’s breaking straight and the wind is junk, so it’s just a messy, weak 3ft. Then it drops off to almost nothing. By the last day, Thursday October 1st, we’re down to 5.5ft from the W, but the conditions are questionable and the period has dropped. It’s a sad, fizzling end to what had the potential to be a great run.

So, there you have it. A long wait, a pearler of a day on Thursday the 24th, and then a slow fade. Lock that Thursday in, and don’t bother with anything before it. The long-range calls for the end of the second week are promising but less certain, so keep an eye on the charts. As always, keep the wax warm.

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