Tippers Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty here, and I've been staring at the charts for our local patch. Let's be honest from the start: it's a lean stretch ahead. Tippers is our only option on the table, and it's a real exercise in patience.

Right now, on Wednesday the 19th of August, we've got a 3ft SSW groundswell rolling in with a long 16-second period. The combined energy is sitting at a moderate 472, so there's some push, but the wind is coming from the west, making it a cross-onshore breeze. The result is poor surf conditions – lumpy and not inviting. Water temp is about average for this time of year, nothing weird happening there.

Thursday the 20th and Friday the 21st are more of the same story – small, messy, and marginal. Swell drops a bit, and the onshore wind keeps things poor. We're looking at 2ft to 3ft of SSW swell, with energies falling from 323 down to 201. It's a classic case of waiting it out.

There's a slight flicker on Saturday the 22nd afternoon, where the swell bumps back up to 3ft from the SSW with a 14-second period and 316 energy, but the cross-onshore wind is still there. Not a stand-out, just a maybe.

As we roll into the last week of August, things stay stubbornly marginal. We’ve got a nice long-period groundswell from the SW on Sunday the 23rd – 2ft at 19 seconds – but the wind remains a cross-onshore light breeze. That long period means it'll have some shape, but the energy is only 389. It's tempting, but the wind is the killer.

The real interest, and I mean the *only* real interest, shows up for the final weekend. On Saturday the 29th of August, we finally see some pulse. The morning brings a 3ft SSW swell with a 17-second period, energy jumps to 702, and the wind is a clean, light onshore from the WSW. For Tippers, wind from WSW is actually straight onshore, but at 6 mph it's just a light breeze. The afternoon gets a little stronger at 9 mph, but the wave heights nudge up to 4ft and the energy hits 734. It’s still a marginal call according to the data, but this is the best the whole 16-day window has to offer. In a quiet period, this is your best bet.

The following week drops off again. Tuesday the 1st of September shows a shift: we get a 4ft swell from the west, but the period crashes to a short 8 seconds and the energy is a poor 448. It gets a zero rating – that's windswell junk. After that, it's back to the same old story of small, windy south swells.

The bottom line: If you're desperate, save your energy for Saturday the 29th of August. That 3ft to 4ft SSW swell with the long period is the only pulse of size in the whole run. Otherwise, it's a lot of waiting for clean surf that just isn't coming. The crowds at Tippers are only *sometimes* a problem, so on that Saturday you might have it mostly to yourself.

Stay patient, keep an eye on the sky.

- Rusty

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