The Wharf Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for The Wharf. It’s a reef setup, consistent, exposed to the south, and needs a clean window to really fire. The water temp is about average for the time of year, nothing out of the ordinary there.

We’re looking at a tough stretch to kick things off. From Tuesday the 15th through to the 25th of September, it’s a pretty grim run of cross-onshore winds and lumpy, choppy conditions. There are a few windows where the wave energy sits in the moderate range (combined energy around 600–1400), but the wind’s just not playing ball. A couple of mornings and afternoons in that period are rated as “poor surf conditions” with very low scores. It’s not worth paddling out for that mess.

Then we hit a little spark on Saturday the 19th of September. Saturday morning sees a light cross-offshore breeze with 3ft of swell from the south, period around 12 seconds, and combined energy of 358. Conditions are clean. Then Saturday afternoon gets glassy – absolute zero wind – with 3ft of swell from the south, period 11 seconds, and energy down to 257. That’s your best bet for the whole forecast period. Clean, glassy waves at The Wharf, with that long period south groundswell wrapping in. The swell is small, but the conditions will make it rideable and fun for an intermediate. Because it’s a reef, that longer period should line up nicely. Crowds are possible here on a Saturday afternoon, so expect a few others to have the same idea.

Sunday the 20th has another glassy afternoon with 3ft from the SSE and combined energy of 379, but it’s a smaller day. Monday the 21st sees a slight uptick in energy (897 and 971) with a longer 15-16 second period from the southwest, but the wind is light cross to cross-onshore, so not as clean as Saturday.

After that, from Tuesday the 22nd through to the 25th, we’re back into a poor run of choppy, cross-onshore slop. The swell sticks around 2ft to 4ft, but the wind’s up again.

Then we get a significant change. Saturday the 26th of September sees a jump in swell height to 8ft–8ft from the SSE, with short period (10 seconds) and strong to very strong energy (2114 and 2388). But the wind is onshore and fresh, and the wave comment says poor conditions. That’s too big and windy for a fun paddle session – looks more like a kite surfing day if you’re into that. Sunday the 27th holds similar size (7ft–8ft) from the S and SSE, with longer period (13–14 seconds) and strong energy (1648–2856), but still onshore winds and a “marginal” call. This is expert territory given the size and the onshore wind making it lumpy.

The final few days, Monday 28th to Wednesday 30th, drop back down to smaller swell (2ft–4ft) but the wind stays onshore or cross-onshore and fresh, so still not worth getting excited about.

So, the standout is clear: Saturday the 19th of September at The Wharf. The morning is clean with a light offshore breeze, but the afternoon is the real gem – glassy, 3ft south swell, with that classic reef setup handling the longer period. It’s small but it’ll be the cleanest surf of the whole run. After that, the only other half-decent window is the glassy Sunday afternoon on the 20th, but the swell is smaller.

There’s a big gap of poor conditions before and after that Saturday, so don’t waste your energy on the rest of it.

Rusty.

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