Trestles (Lowers) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. Look, I've gotta be straight with you—this next sixteen days at Trestles (Lowers) is a real test of patience. We're looking at a long, drawn-out run of pretty small, marginal surf. The water temp is sitting about average for this time of year, so no surprises there.

The pattern from Wednesday 19 August through to the end of the month is all about those small, long-period south swells. They're coming in around 2ft to 4ft, but that's where the good news starts and ends. The wind is mostly a light cross-onshore breeze, which is not ideal for getting that clean face. It's not a total washout, but we're looking at a lot of "marginal" and "poor" surf conditions day after day. The combined energy is weak to moderate, mostly in the 200 to 400 range (436), which tells you the ocean just isn't packing much punch.

The real killer is the period. We're seeing swells with periods of 13 to 19 seconds, which is a proper long-period groundswell. For a beach and reef setup like Trestles, that long period can make the waves break a bit too straight, and the long gaps between sets mean you'll be doing a lot of sitting and waiting. The consistency is very consistent, but unfortunately, it's consistent in being small.

Thursday 20 August is a good example of the struggle: 3ft swell from the SSW with a 14-second period, but the wind is a gentle cross-onshore breeze, making it fairly choppy. Not worth paddling out for. Friday 21 August to Sunday 23 August is more of the same—tiny waves, mostly onshore or cross-onshore wind. The weekend of 22 and 23 August is particularly poor, with heights dropping to 2ft and combined energy as low as 186. It's a total write-off.

We do have a slight lift in energy around Saturday 29 August to Sunday 30 August. The swell picks up to 3ft, and the combined energy climbs to 677 (Saturday morning) and 709 (Saturday afternoon). That's the most interesting window in the whole forecast. The swell direction is still SSW, and the wind is a light breeze, though it's still cross-onshore. It's marginal, but it's the best of a bad lot. The period is 15-16 seconds, so again, long-period groundswell, but at least there's a bit more push.

Monday 31 August onwards sees the swell drop back down, and we're back to the same story. By Tuesday 1 September, we get a weird 4ft swell from the west with a very short period of 8 seconds, but the combined energy is only 343, and it's marked as poor surf conditions. It's a mess.

So, if you're absolutely desperate, the standout is the weekend of 29 and 30 August. The swell is a touch bigger, and the conditions are marginal rather than poor. But honestly, this is a stretch that's more for the dedicated soul surfer than anyone looking for a good session. For beginners, the swell is small enough, but the conditions are so poor it's not worth it. For the advanced crew, the lack of quality and size is just frustrating. If the wind was offshore, it'd be a different story, but it's not.

There's a nine-day gap of poor to marginal conditions in the middle of the forecast period, from 21 August right through to 29 August, with almost nothing worth paddling out for. The only flicker of hope is that the consistency is very consistent, so the patterns can shift, and the forecasts can change. But based on what I'm seeing now, it's a tough run.

Rusty.

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