Thirroul Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cookin’ at Thirroul for the next couple of weeks. Gotta be honest with ya, it’s a pretty bleak stretch of small, weak swell for the most part. The first real chance of anything decent is a long way off, so patience is the name of the game.

The water’s sitting at about 64°, which is pretty much bang on average for this time of year. No surprises there.

The pattern starts off flat and ordinary. Monday the 24th has a tiny 2ft swell from the south, period of 10 seconds, and the energy is weak to moderate (167). Morning has a light north breeze making it cross-off, so it’s clean but gutless. Afternoon gets worse with a 12 mph northeasterly chopping it right up. Not worth paddling out.

Tuesday the 25th is a bit of a nothing burger. We get a tiny bump in size to 3ft from the east-northeast, but the period is a short 6 seconds, so it’s all mush. The wind is light and clean in the morning, and it stays clean in the afternoon, but there’s no push. Not gonna get you out of bed.

Wednesday the 26th turns sloppy. A 3ft east-northeast swell with an 8-second period gets wrecked by a moderate south-southwest crosswind in the morning. By the afternoon, a 5ft south swell rolls in with a 7-second period, but it’s crossed-up and choppy with 16 mph south winds. The combined energy jumps to 303 (moderate), but you wouldn’t want to be out there. Not your day.

Thursday the 27th is marginal at best. We’ve got a 5ft south-southeast swell, 8-second period, and the energy is moderate at 308. The morning has a light south-southwest cross breeze, so it’s not totally blown out, but it’s not clean enough to get stoked on. Afternoon is a write-off with onshore easterly wind.

Friday the 28th morning – that’s your first real standout. A 3ft south swell, 9-second period, and the combined energy is moderate (215). But the key here is absolutely glassy conditions. Zero wind. That’s rare and special. For a beach-and-reef setup like Thirroul, that glassy surface will make the most of what’s on offer. The swell is from the south, which is the optimum direction for the break, and it’s a long-period groundswell that’ll wrap in nicely. This is likely the best wave you’ll see all week. Get out there. Crowds are possible, so don’t sleep in.

Saturday the 29th morning also has glassy conditions, with a 3ft south-southeast swell, 9-second period, and 198 energy. It’s clean and promising, but the swell direction is a little off the optimum. It’s surfable and pretty, but not quite as good as Friday.

After that, the outlook goes dead again. Sunday the 30th through to Tuesday the 1st of September, we’re looking at tiny waves under 2ft. There’s a weird spike on the 31st afternoon with a 1.0ft swell but an 18-second period – that’s an incredibly long period for almost no height, so it’ll just be a slow, fat bump with no real face to ride.

Then we hit a proper gap. From Tuesday 1st September all the way through to the end of the period, it’s a wasteland of 1ft to 2ft junk. The winds are clean for some of it, especially Wednesday afternoon and Friday afternoon with offshore or cross-off breezes, but the swell just isn’t there. The energy readings are mostly low, 47 to 158.

The one long-range hint that’s worth mentioning is Tuesday morning, September 8th. That’s more than a week away, so keep your expectations in check. The data shows a sudden jump to a 8ft swell from the south, 8-second period. That’s a lot of water (combined energy a very strong 1199), but an 8-second period means it’ll be a wall of close-interval, dumpy waves. At that size, this is for experienced surfers only. The wind is forecast to be a moderate west-southwest cross-off, so it’ll be clean. For a beach-and-reef break, this could turn into a bit of a washing machine. It’s more interesting for strong paddlers, but I’d say it looks more like a day for kite surfers than your average surfer, given the power and short period.

Bottom line: Friday 28th morning is your one true standout in the whole 16 days. Get it while it’s glassy. The rest is a long, quiet wait.

Rusty.

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