Noosa - Sunshine Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Grab your board and listen up—Rusty here. The next couple of weeks are a mixed bag, with a frustrating start and one clear standout that’s worth circling on the calendar. Right now, the surf is pretty ordinary. We’ve got a run of small, choppy, cross-onshore conditions with very little energy in the water, and the swell is mostly short-period, which means it’s lacking any punch or shape. For the first few days, it’s going to be a struggle to find anything clean.

This stretch starts off with a bit of a dud. Through Saturday and into Sunday (the 29th and 30th of August), the winds are up and blowing cross-onshore, making a mess of things. Swell is building a touch on Sunday, but it’s accompanied by a fresh breeze and lumpy conditions, so it’s not going to be any fun. The energy is weak to moderate, but it’s wasted. We’re looking at the combined swell energy sitting around 88 to 412, but it’s just not translating to anything rideable.

As we head into the start of September, the winds ease off, but the swell drops right down. Monday the 31st is still cross-onshore and fairly choppy. Tuesday the 1st brings a light breeze, but the swell is tiny, at best 2ft. We do get a little window Wednesday morning, the 2nd, with a glassy dawn and a touch of long-period groundswell rolling in at 2ft and a 10-second period. It’s surfable, but it’s very ordinary—you’d be scraping the bottom of the barrel. The energy is pretty weak at 72, and the break won’t be showing much. The water temp is about average for this time of year, so no worries there.

That pretty much sums up the first week—small, weak, and mostly wind-affected. There’s a gap of almost a week where it’s not worth paddling out unless you’re desperate. The best of this quiet spell is that glassy Wednesday morning, but that’s saying a lot.

Now, the second week is where things get interesting, and there’s one day that stands out as the real deal. We’re looking at Thursday, the 10th of September. The morning is the one to circle. We’ve got a solid 8ft of southeast swell rolling through, with a short period of just 7 seconds. It’s a punchy, building swell, and the wind is a gentle cross-shore, which is going to keep the face reasonably clean. The energy in the water is strong too, with the combined swell energy maxing out at 588. This is the standout of the whole window. The conditions are favorable and the swell is up, but be warned—this is going to be a heavy, powerful wave at that size. At 8ft, it’s pushing past the beginner zone and getting into expert territory. It’s a proper session for those who know what they’re doing. The afternoon looks like it might ease slightly, with light onshore winds, but the morning is the call.

Before that, Wednesday the 9th shows a quick flush of new swell, but it’s a bit messy and the winds are cross-off. It’s a marginal call at best. After the big Thursday, the rest of that week settles back down. Friday the 11th has a cross-onshore breeze and the swell starts to ease. Saturday the 12th morning is actually glassy with clean conditions, and there’s still a solid 6ft of swell on offer, but it’s a come-down from Thursday’s power. It’s still a decent option, but it’s not the standout. Sunday the 13th looks like it’s fading out again with a cross-shore wind.

So, to keep it simple: the first week is a washout. Don’t waste your time. The one to chase is the morning of Thursday, the 10th of September. It’s got the size, the energy, and the wind will be right. It’s a big, powerful day for experts only. The rest of the second week has some small waves but nothing that’s going to blow you away. This setup is more about waiting for that Thursday pulse and making the most of it.

Stay stoked.

Rusty.

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