The Harbour Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you: the next couple of weeks at The Harbour are looking flat-out ordinary for most of the stretch. We’ve got a long dry spell on the cards before anything worth paddling out for shows up, so don’t rush to grab your board just yet.

The first real surf recommendation doesn’t come until Friday the 28th of August. Before that, it’s a ghost town out there. The water’s sitting at about 57°, which is pretty much spot on for this time of year – nothing weird going on with the temperature. But the waves, or lack of them, are the story. We’ve got days of nothing, a little pulse of knee-high slop around the 25th and 26th, but it’s all junky, short-period wind chop with the wind all over the shop. Not worth your time.

Then, on Friday morning the 28th, things finally wake up. The wind drops right out to glass, and we’re looking at a clean 5ft swell pushing in from the ENE, with a period of 8 seconds. The energy jumps to a solid 318 – that’s moderate, but it’s the best we’ve seen. The Harbour is a beach/groyne setup, and this is a bit of a peaky, short-period swell, so it should be breaking with some shape. It’s not huge, but on a glassy morning, that’s your window. Friday afternoon still has that 6ft ENE swell, but the wind swings around to a cross-off at 12 mph, which will keep it clean, though the tide might be a bit of a question mark. Still, that Friday is the standout of the whole run.

After that, it’s back to the doldrums. Saturday the 29th is a write-off with a strong cross-onshore wind, and the swell backs off to below 3ft. Sunday the 30th is just as rough. Then Monday the 31st throws us a bone: a 4ft NE swell with a 9-second period and a proper offshore wind from the WSW. It’s a gentle offshore too, so the surface should be clean. That’s another spot worth your time if you missed Friday, and it’s not as big, so it’s a bit more user-friendly for the intermediates.

After that, it’s a long, frustrating stretch. From the 1st of September all the way through to the 7th, the surf basically dries up. We’ve got some clean but tiny days, some junky cross-chop, and then the wind absolutely howls out of the SSW with near gale force on the 7th – that’s not surfable, that’s just messy mayhem. The energy drops to nada, and we’re left staring at a flat, choppy ocean.

Look, this run is pretty bleak. We’ve got a couple of windows – the Friday morning and Monday arvo – and that’s about it. The long-range stuff into the second week is just a promise of nothing. If you’re keen, you’ve got to be on it for that Friday the 28th morning. It’s the cleanest, biggest swell of the whole period, and with the glassy conditions, it’s the one to make time for. Everything else, you might as well stay home and watch the forecast change.

Stay salty.

Rusty

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