Tippers Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it—this 16-day stretch for Tippers is a tough one. There’s no real pump of quality surf to get excited about. We’ve got a long gap of nothing worth paddling for right through to the end of August and into September, before a slight lift at the very end of the run. Let’s break it down.

The best of a very average bunch comes early, on Tuesday the 25th of August. It’s a morning sesh where Tippers catches a clean 2 ft SW groundswell at a deep 16 second period. The wind is light and offshore from the west (10 km/h), so you’re looking at smooth, lined-up waves. That combined energy reading of 408 (moderate) tells you there’s enough push for a beginner-friendly reef, but it’s marginal with the tide. The water temp is average for this time of year—nothing weird going on. Afternoon the same day nudges up to 3 ft from the south, still with that light offshore breeze, but the quality drops off a bit. This is your window.

From Wednesday the 26th through to nearly mid-September, it’s a slog. Swell hangs around 2 ft to 5 ft, but the wind swings cross-onshore or onshore for most of it, with a lot of “gentle cross-onshore and fairly choppy” conditions. The energy readings bounce around in the moderate range (often between 300 and 900), but the wave comment keeps calling it “marginal” or “poor.” A few days in early September show some longer-period SW groundswell up to 4 ft on the 4th and 5th, but the wind is cross-onshore, chopping it up. Not worth paddling out unless you’re desperate.

The end of the forecast, around Saturday the 5th of September, has swell holding at 4 ft from the SSW (16 seconds) with a light westerly breeze, but it’s still cross-onshore and the wave state is “light cross-onshore with small wind ripples.” It’s a tease, but not a standout. After that, it fades into smaller, poorer surf through to the 9th.

When it’s this quiet, and the breaks are like Tippers (very consistent, but with mostly poor conditions), you just have to wait. Forecasts can flip. But for now, the only real window to get wet is Tuesday the 25th of August morning—don’t sleep on that one.

Rusty.

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