Surf Forecasts:
The Spit surf forecast from 13 Jul 2026:
- Best quality surf: Thursday 16 Jul, 10AM (local time) - 8ft (2.5m), 8s period, SSE swell with cross-shore winds.
- Most powerful swell: Monday 20 Jul, 1AM (local time) - 11ft (3.5m), 10s period, ESE swell with 2,239 kJ wave energy.
- Next surfable swell (1★+): Thursday 16 Jul, 10AM (local time) - 8ft (2.5m), 8s period with SSE swell.
Best Forecast Surf Conditions for The Spit this week:
The surf forecast for The Spit over the next 16 days: The first swell (rated 1 star or higher) is forecast to arrive on Thursday (Jul 16) at 10AM. The primary swell is predicted to be 2.5m and 8s period with a secondary swell of 1.3m and 7s. Another secondary swell of 0.3m and 11s is also forecast. The wind is predicted to be cross-shore as the swell arrives.
The most powerful waves expected at The Spit in the next 16 days are 3.5m 10s and forecast to arrive on Monday (Jul 20) at 1AM. Winds are predicted to be cross-shore at the time the swell arrives. The largest open ocean swell (not directed at the beach) is 0.6m 3s period and expected on Thursday (Jul 16) at 1AM.
| Wave Type | Time (AEST) & Date | Wave Height & Period |
|---|---|---|
| Next good surf (1 star+) | 10AM (Thu 16th Jul) | 8ft (2.5m) 8s |
| Best Surf | 10AM (Thu 16th Jul) | 8ft (2.5m) 8s |
| Most Powerful | 1AM (Mon 20th Jul) | 11ft (3.5m) 10s |
Table - best surf conditions forecast for The Spit over the next 16 days.
G’day, I’m Rusty.
Let’s call it like it is: The Spit is a river-mouth break, good for beginners, breaks consistently, but it needs a west wind to clean it up. For the first week and a half, the wind is mostly cross or cross-onshore, and the swell is either too small or way too big for this spot.
There’s a dry spell from now until the morning of Thursday, July 16th – no real surf to speak of, just weak, messy conditions. Thursday morning the 16th sees a big jump in energy (1099 – moderate), with 8 ft swell from the SSE, but that’s too big for a beginner spot and the wind is cross-shore at 18 mph. The afternoon brings rain showers and 5 ft, still messy. Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th are similar – strong cross-onshore winds, 5 ft to 8 ft swell, and energy jumping from 304 to 1238. If you’ve got a kite, the setup looks more interesting than paddling.
The big stuff hits the 19th, 20th, and 21st of July – 10 ft swell from the ESE, periods of 9 to 10 seconds, energy from 1319 up to 2554. That’s very strong energy, but it’s too big for The Spit, and the wind stays cross or cross-onshore at 15 to 25 mph. No good.
Things settle down from the 22nd, but it’s still marginal. The first real standout is Sunday, July 26th morning. Glassy conditions – wind from the WNW at 3 mph, offshore, with a 4 ft east swell and an 11-second period. The energy is moderate (303) and the water temp is about average for the season at 70°. Clean, small waves for a beginner, and the wind is perfect. Crowds are often here, so expect a few others.
Then Monday, July 27th morning is another beauty – glassy again, 3 mph from the SW offshore, 4 ft east swell, 12-second period, clean. And Tuesday, July 28th morning is also glassy, with a 3 ft east swell and a very long 14-second period. That long period means the waves will have nice shape at the river mouth, but the sets will be spaced out. The energy is moderate (340). These three mornings are the pick of the forecast. The rest of the time is blown out or too small.
Rusty out.
Short Range ForecastSome drizzle, heaviest during Wed night. Warm (max 21°C on Mon afternoon, min 13°C on Wed night). Winds increasing (calm on Tue afternoon, fresh winds from the S by Thu morning). | Days 5-7 Weather SummaryLight rain (total 9mm), mostly falling on Fri night. Very mild (max 19°C on Fri morning, min 17°C on Thu afternoon). Mainly strong winds. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mon 13 | Tuesday 14 | Wednesday 15 | Thursday 16 | Friday 17 | Saturday 18 | Sunday 19 | |||||||||||||||
PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | |
Swell Height Map |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||
Wave Height (m) Direction Period (s) | ESE 9 | SE 8 | ESE 10 | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | SSE 6 | SE 8 | SSE 8 | SE 7 | SE 7 | ESE 7 | ESE 8 | SE 8 | SE 8 | ESE 9 | SE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 10 | ESE 10 | ESE 10 |
Wave Graph  | |||||||||||||||||||||
 kJ | 32 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 72 | 177 | 887 | 246 | 285 | 297 | 294 | 979 | 816 | 601 | 1592 | 1304 | 1644 | 2239 | 1576 |
Wind (km/h) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy | glassy | off | off | glassy | cross-off | cross | cross | cross | cross | cross | cross | cross-on | cross-on | cross | cross | cross-on | cross | cross-on | cross | cross | cross-on |
High Tide | 7:41PM1.82m | 8:01AM1.14m | 8:30PM1.86m | 8:51AM1.17m | 9:16PM1.85m | 9:39AM1.20m | 10:00PM1.78m | 10:26AM1.21m | 10:43PM1.67m | 11:14AM1.20m | 11:25PM1.52m | 12:03PM1.19m | 00:07AM1.37m | 12:55PM1.18m | |||||||
Low Tide | 2:21AM0.26m | 1:39PM0.18m | 3:09AM0.22m | 2:30PM0.17m | 3:54AM0.20m | 3:20PM0.20m | 4:38AM0.20m | 4:10PM0.25m | 5:20AM0.23m | 5:01PM0.33m | 6:01AM0.26m | 5:53PM0.42m | 6:42AM0.30m | ||||||||
 |  | | | | | |  |  |  | | | | | | | | |  |  | | |
 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 | — | — | 6:35 |
 | 5:06 | — | — | 5:07 | — | — | 5:07 | — | — | 5:07 | — | — | 5:07 | — | — | 5:08 | — | — | 5:08 | — | 5:09 |
mm | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | — | — | 3 | 1 | — | 2 | — | 1 | — | — |
Temp °C | 21 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 19 |
Feels °C | 19 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 12 |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | ESE 9 | SE 8 | ESE 10 | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | — | SE 8 | SE 7 | NE 9 | ENE 8 | NNE 9 | ESE 10 | ESE 8 | ESE 8 | E 20 | ESE 9 | SE 19 | SE 19 | ESE 10 | ESE 10 |
| kJ | 32 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | — | 177 | 189 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 77 | 500 | 422 | 8 | 848 | 15 | 14 | 1201 | 978 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 8 | ESE 10 | ESE 7 | ESE 7 | SE 7 | — | S 16 | — | SE 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | E 20 | E 18 | — | — | S 18 | — |
| kJ | 1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 | — | 5 | — | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | 6 | — | — | 6 | — |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 8 | S 8 | — | — | — | E 10 | — | — | NE 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | 5 | 1 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | SSE 2 | SSE 5 | SSE 6 | S 3 | SSE 8 | SE 7 | SE 7 | ESE 7 | ESE 8 | SE 8 | SE 8 | ESE 9 | SE 9 | ESE 9 | ESE 10 | ESE 10 | ESE 10 |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | 1 | 8 | 72 | 8 | 887 | 246 | 285 | 297 | 294 | 979 | 816 | 601 | 1592 | 1304 | 1644 | 2239 | 1576 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 149 | 17 | 160 | 299 | 299 | 66 | 28 | 22 | 22 | 348 | 166 | 166 | 166 | 22 | 22 | 671 | 671 | 460 | 671 | 166 | 166 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Gold Coast | |||||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | |||||||||||||||||||||
- Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)- Wind Speed (km/h)
FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website
The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our The Spit surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.
Information about the The Spit Surf forecast
The above surf forecast table for The Spit provides essential information for determining whether the surfing conditions will be good over the next 16 days. A general guide to surfing at The Spit can be found by selecting the local surf guide option on the grey menu. Our The Spit surf forecast is unique since it includes wave energy (power) that defines the real feel of the surf rather than just the height or the period. If you surf the same spot (The Spit) regularly then make a mental note of the wave energy from the surf forecast table each time you go. Very soon you may start to choose your surf days based on the wave energy alone combined with our forecast of favourable offshore wind conditions. Our star ratings will help here and of course you will also find the usual wave height and period predictions on our surf forecasts as well as a full break down of the swell components under our advanced users option (to reveal that, click the little Einstein character under the tide times).
Further information to help with frequently asked questions about our surf forecast for The Spit may be found under the help tab on the top menu and also by moving your mouse over the question marks on the surf forecast table itself. Please always bear in mind that the forecast is for near-shore open water and local factors at each surf break influence the actual breaking wave height, such as the beach / reef profile, water depths offshore and shelter.
The Spit is 4 km (2 miles) from the city of Southport. If you plan a holiday in Gold Coast, look for hotels and other accommodation in Southport. Southport has rooms for a wide range of budgets as well as car hire and transport links.
Nearest