Surf City Pier Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. I’ve gotta be straight with you – the next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for a proper paddle. We’ve got a long, flat spell ahead before anything even thinks about showing up.

The whole 16-day window is a write-off for decent surf at Surf City Pier. The first solid week, from Friday 14 August right through to Thursday 20 August, is almost entirely “poor surf conditions” with tiny, weak waves. The best you’ll see early on is a measly 1ft to 3ft of short-period, weak swell – energy readings are mostly in the 20s and 30s, which is barely a ripple. Winds are all over the place, mostly cross or onshore, and even the glassy mornings have next to nothing to ride. There’s a moment on Monday morning 17 August where a 3ft SW swell shows with glassy wind, but the energy is still weak at 61 and it’s straight into “very ordinary conditions.” That’s not a surf session, that’s a paddleboard float.

Friday 21 August through Sunday 23 August? Same story – tiny swell, poor energy, and onshore breezes. A little bump of 4ft on Friday morning 21 August from the east, but period is a feeble 5 seconds and the wind is cross-shore, so it’s just messy slop. Not worth your time.

There’s a long gap of dead days from the start until the first glimmer of something on Thursday 27 August morning – that’s over a week of nothing. On Thursday morning 27 August, we get a tiny 1ft SE swell with a glassy calm wind, and the wave comment finally says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions.” The energy is still weak at 43. It’s a micro-swell, but at least it’s clean. Still, don’t get excited.

The only standout worth mentioning is the very last day of the outlook: Saturday 29 August morning. We’ve got 4ft of ENE swell, glassy calm wind, and a moderate energy reading of 106 – that’s the biggest number we’ve seen in the whole run. The swell direction (ENE) is a fair way off the optimum SE for this exposed sandbar, so it won’t be organised, but with zero wind and a bit of size, you might find a few half-decent closeouts if you’re desperate. It’s a one-off, a long shot, and it’s two weeks away, so take it with a grain of salt. For the rest of the run, you’re looking at flat, choppy, or tiny – honestly, the setup is more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing when the wind picks up.

Keep the board waxed and wait for a proper swell to change the picture. It tends not to stay this poor forever.

Rusty.

Read more