Voltri Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty. I’ve been staring at the charts for the next couple of weeks, and I’ve got to level with you: it’s looking pretty grim for a proper paddle. We’ve got a long stretch of small, weak surf, and the odd bump of energy just gets chopped up by the wind or isn’t enough to get the heart rate up. The swell window is just barely kissing us, and the period is short and unimpressive. We’ll see a few mornings with clean, glassy conditions, but the waves themselves will be nothing to write home about. The water is running at 83.8°, which is a solid 7.2° above the norm for this time of year, so it’s like bathwater out there.

Our first real chance to get wet without waves washing over our heads comes on Friday morning, the 21st. The swell pushes up to about 3.6ft out of the SSW, with a short 6-second period. The wind is a light cross-offshore from the NE, so it will be clean, but honestly, it’s just ordinary. There’s just not enough energy in the water – the combined swell energy is only 138 – to make it feel like you’re surfing a wave rather than just floating around. The crowds are only “sometimes” an issue, which tells you how un-pumping it is. It’s a beginner point break, so if you’re desperate to get the board wet, it’s an option, but there’s no drive or push.

After that, it just fades. Saturday the 22nd has a bit of waist-high slop in the morning with a glassy surface, but it’s weak. Then we hit a dead zone. From the 23rd through the 26th, we’re looking at flatness or ankle-biters. The thunderstorms and onshore winds don’t help either. This is a proper lull and nothing is lining up. The energy just isn’t there.

Looking further out, past the 27th and into the first week of September, there’s a very faint pulse of long-period groundswell energy, but it’s generating nothing but tiny, clean ripples. The winds are offshore and the surface looks good, which is a tease, but the swell heights are a joke – all under 1.6ft. It’s a cruel trick, because the conditions are clean, but there's just no ocean to play with. It’s making me wonder if the kite surfers are going to be the only ones having fun out there, because for us paddle surfers, it’s a total washout. Hang in there, the seasons will turn eventually.

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