Thousand Steps Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’m gonna level with you—this stretch we’re looking at is a real heartbreaker. We’ve got a solid 16-day run of mostly tiny, messy conditions at Thousand Steps (a reef setup), and it’s going to be a long wait before you see anything worth paddling out for. The first solid window isn’t until Saturday the 15th of August, which is a brutal gap of nearly a week from today, Monday the 10th. After that, it’s back to the grind. Let’s walk through it.

The water’s running at a balmy 74°, sitting 7° above the long-term average—that’s seriously weird for this time of year, almost like a warm bath. Makes you wonder what’s going on out there.

Monday the 10th is a washout. Tiny 0.7m (2 ft) to 0.6m (2 ft) SSW swell with light onshore and cross-onshore wind, zero energy (229 to 283), and the wave comment says it all: poor. Tuesday the 11th and Wednesday the 12th are more of the same—0.5m (2 ft), weak energy, flat and choppy. Don’t bother.

Thursday the 13th and Friday the 14th stay in the doldrums. Swell bumping up a tiny bit to 0.7m (2 ft), but the period is still short (16–18 seconds), energy is moderate at best (335–486), and winds are mostly onshore or cross-onshore. The setup is just too weak and messy. Honestly, for any kite surfer, this might look like a bit of fun with the moderate breeze on Friday afternoon, but for paddle surfing, it’s dead.

Now, here’s the one standout. Saturday the 15th of August afternoon. Swell tickles up to 1.0m (3 ft) from the SSW with a 16-second period (decent long-period groundswell), and energy jumps to 575—moderate to strong for this zone. Best part? The wind swings cross-offshore from the NNW at 10 km/h (6 mph), meaning clean, glassy faces. The wave comment says “expect very good surf conditions” (score 3/10), and for this run, that’s the absolute peak. This is the only time you want to be in the water. It’s a reef, so that long-period swell will wrap in nicely, giving some proper shape. Just be aware, crowds are sometimes an issue here, so expect a few others in the lineup for that rare clean window.

After that, it’s a slow fade. Sunday the 16th morning is iffy with onshore wind, and by afternoon a moderate 20 km/h (12 mph) cross-onshore chops it up again. From Monday the 17th all the way to Tuesday the 25th of August, it’s a grim repeat—tiny 0.4m (1 ft) to 0.8m (3 ft) SSW and SW swell, short to moderate periods (7–18 seconds), energy mostly weak (192–314), with persistent cross-onshore or onshore light breezes. There’s a brief blip on Saturday the 22nd of August with a 1.0m (3 ft) to 1.2m (4 ft) W windswell (super short period, 7–8 seconds), but again, it’s onshore and messy—no good for a reef break that needs clean lines.

Honestly, this whole run is a write-off except for that one Saturday afternoon. If you’re desperate, pencil in the 15th of August and hope the charts hold. It’s not much, but it’s all we’ve got.

Rusty.

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