Tallebudgera Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty.

Look, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. The next week and a half is a bit of a grind for waves around here. We’ve got a lot of small, average surf on the cards, and the winds aren’t doing us any favors for the most part. It’s not a write-off, but you’re gonna have to pick your moments.

Tallebudgera (Gold Coast) is the only spot on the radar, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. It’s a breakwater setup, so it handles some of this smaller stuff better than a straight beachie might. The water temp is sitting around 68°, which is pretty much average for this time of year, so don’t stress about a wetsuit just yet.

The first clear window is Thursday morning, the 6th. It’s small – only 2ft of east-northeast swell – and the period is a short 7 seconds. But the wind is dead glassy. That’s the main selling point. It’ll be clean as a whistle, just tiny. The combined energy is weak at 102, so it’s not going to have much push. Still, if you’ve got a groveller and just need to get wet, this is your chance.

Then it goes quiet and messy for a while. Friday morning the 7th is glassy again with a similar 2ft, but it’s pretty weak. The whole weekend and into early next week is plagued by cross-shore and cross-on winds, chopping up the small swell. Monday afternoon the 10th has a brief window with a 9 mph offshore and 3ft of east swell, but it’s still pretty ordinary.

Here’s the standout, the one worth waiting for. Thursday morning, the 13th of August. This is the first time the energy really kicks in. The combined swell energy jumps to 560, which is a moderate jump and the most we see in the whole period. Swell comes up to 6ft from the south with a short period of just 7 seconds. It’s a bit on the short-period side, so it might be a little crumbly, but the wind is dead calm and it’s glassy. This is the best conditions and the biggest size we get. It’s not for beginners at 6ft, that’s for sure. This is about the only time it’ll feel like there’s any real ocean out there.

After that, it fades pretty quickly back into the messy, small stuff. There’s a bit of a pulse on the 15th and 16th, but the south winds are howling at 12 mph, making a mess of things. The second week looks mostly similar – small, wonky, and not really worth getting excited about. The period from the 17th onwards has some swell, but the winds are consistently cross-on or onshore, so you’ll be fighting the chop.

So, to sum it up: the standout is Thursday morning the 13th. Get out there for that. Everything else is just about getting wet and hoping for a clean one.

Rusty.

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