The Fort Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, ol’ Rusty here. Let’s have a yarn about The Fort.

To be straight up with you, the next week and a half is pretty flat. There’s not much to get excited about. We see a small pulse pick up around Sunday the 9th, but even then it’s messy. After that, we're looking at a string of days with very small surf and poor conditions, stretching all the way through to about Friday the 16th, when things start to look a little more promising. The Fort is a consistent reef, so a run this quiet isn’t the norm around here.

Let’s run through it.

For the first few days, right up to Saturday the 8th, expect tiny, weak surf. Swell sits around 0.4m to 0.5m, with a SW direction and periods around 13 to 14 seconds. The wind is mostly cross-onshore, so it’s going to be bumpy and small. Water temp is sitting a bit colder than usual for this time of year, about 55°, which is a touch nippy.

Sunday the 9th brings a bit of a lift, with a NW swell pushing to 1.9m. The energy jumps up (1155 combined), but the period is short at 9 seconds, so it’s a bit weak for the size. Wind is cross-onshore again, so the surface will be choppy. It’s a marginal day at best.

Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th offer tiny 3ft WNW swell with a short period. The best window looks like Monday afternoon with a light cross-onshore breeze, but it’s still only marginal.

Then we hit a big gap from Wednesday 12th through to Thursday 15th where the swell drops back to 1ft to 2ft. Nothin’ doing.

Friday 16th shows a glimmer. The early morning on the 16th (that’s a Saturday morning) sees a SW swell of 3ft with a solid 17-second period. The combined energy is up there at 534, and the wind is light cross-on. That’s a long-period groundswell, so it’ll have some shape and power, but that long period can make it a bit fat at a reef setup. It’s still the most interesting day of the outlook. If you’re keen, dawn patrol on the 16th is your best bet.

After that, from Sunday 17th onwards, the wind picks up heavy from the NW, getting up to 18 to 22 mph, and it’s all cross-shore chop. The swell size stays small, so it’s gonna be a write-off for a paddle board. More of a kite day if anything.

So, in summary: the clear standout is the Saturday morning of the 16th. It’s a bit of a long-range call, so keep an eye on it, but that’s where the quality sits. Don’t hold your breath for the rest.

Rusty.

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