The Spit Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s take a good hard look at what’s coming our way over the next couple of weeks. I gotta be straight with you – this forecast is a tough one. The Spit is a river mouth that needs the stars to align, and for most of the window, they just aren’t cooperating.

The first few days are a write-off. From Friday the 31st of July right through to Sunday the 2nd of August, it’s all cross-shore and cross-onshore winds with lumpy, choppy conditions. We’re looking at weak, messy swell – the combined energy barely hits 80 on Friday, and even when Sunday morning sees a bump in size to 5 ft, it’s completely ruined by a moderate cross-onshore breeze. Not worth paddling out for.

Then we get a bit of a tease. Monday morning, the 3rd of August, is actually the standout of the whole outlook. The wind goes glassy, dead calm. The Spit sees a clean 3 ft of swell from the SE, with a period of 11 seconds. That’s a proper groundswell, bringing some real shape and energy (combined energy of 241). This is your window. The water temp is sitting at 69°, which is about average for the time of year. Get out there early, because it’s a short-lived window – the onshore kicks in that afternoon and ruins it.

After that, it’s a long, painful gap. From Monday afternoon all the way through to the end of the first week, we’re back to tiny, weak waves with poor winds. The swell rarely gets above 2 ft, the period drops, and the energy is pathetic. There are some clean-ish mornings with offshore winds on Wednesday the 5th and again on Monday the 10th of August, but the swell is just too small to get excited about – 2 ft to 2 ft and weak. That’s a long stretch of nothing.

The second week doesn’t offer much salvation. The best we can hope for is clean, offshore winds again on Tuesday the 11th and Wednesday the 12th of August, but the swell remains tiny, around 2 ft to 2 ft, with periods around 9-10 seconds. The combined energy on Tuesday afternoon is a modest 102, which is barely surfable on a longboard.

So, the honest truth is this: the only realistic shot at a decent wave in the whole 16-day window is first thing Monday morning, the 3rd of August. That glassy 3 ft groundswell is a true standout. The rest of the forecast is a long, drawn-out period of flat or poor conditions. If you’re a beginner, the swell never gets above 5 ft, so there’s no danger of it being too big, but the quality just isn’t there. For the experts, there’s nothing to get your teeth into. It’s a quiet spell, and sometimes that’s just how it goes around here.

Stay patient, and keep your eyes on the horizon.

Rusty.

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