Wategos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, it’s Rusty.

Alright, we’ve got a 16-day outlook for the home break at Wategos. It’s not going to be a flat spell, but we’re going to earn every wave. There’s a bit of groundswell trying to sneak in, but the wind and a heap of short-period chop are going to make things tricky for most of the run. The first few days are very much a “check the tides and squint” kind of vibe.

The good news is the water temp is running about average for this time of year, so you won't need the 6/5/4 wetsuit yet, but it’s not warm either.

The first solid call is Saturday, August 29 (that’s this coming Saturday). We’ve got a clean 1.6m (5 ft 3in) ENE swell with that 8-second period. The energy is clocking in at 336 (moderate), but the magic is the wind – it’s dead calm, glassy as the bay. It won’t be huge, but it’ll be smooth and user-friendly. This is the pick for the casual surfer or anyone getting a few. Just be aware that it’ll be packed – the word is it’s “always” crowded, so get in early. The paddle out will be easy with those longer gaps between sets.

The swell stays in the 1.2m to 1.4m (4 ft to 4 ft 7in) range for the rest of that week, but each window is marred by cross-on winds or choppy afternoons. The mornings on Sunday 30 and Wednesday 26 offer clean, offshore conditions, but the surf is just ordinary – not really worth burning a morning for unless you’re desperate. The combined energy for those is only around 90-210 (weak to moderate).

Now, past that weekend, we have a longer stretch of wind-affected junk. From Monday 31 through to Thursday 3, the onshores and cross-shore winds blow up a storm. The swell climbs – it’s pushing 2.5m (8 ft) on Monday with a strong 835 energy reading, but it’s onshore, lumpy, and messy. That’s a day you stay on the beach, not a day you charge. The water will be all churned up. It’s going to look more like a kite-surfing zoo than a surf spot. Even Wednesday 2nd’s morning has some juice (1.5m, 5 ft, 11-second period, 498 energy) with a proper offshore, but the afternoon gets slammed by a 35 km/h (22 mph) cross-off. A short window, and then it’s gone.

The standout for the long-range is Friday morning, September 4 – that’s 8 days out. Right at the start of the second week, the storm clears. We get a clean 1.5m (5 ft) NE swell with a glassy, calm morning. The energy is moderate (357), but the wind is dead off nothing. It’s the most promising and cleanest wave we see in the entire run. That’ll be a good one for points and reefs, not so much the beachy.

After that, the swell drops away quickly. The final day, Sunday 6 September, has a tiny 0.5m (1 ft 8in) bump with weak energy (43) and offshore winds. It’s small, but if you’ve got a longboard, it might be the last groomed crumble before it goes quiet.

So, the bottom line: two true standouts – Saturday 29 for the clean, friendly waves, and Friday 4 for the slightly bigger, cleaner peak. Everything else is a mess of short-period chop and wind. The gaps between good mornings are a day or two of onshores, so don’t plan the week around it. Near-term, it’s all about the morning glass; long-term, keep an eye on that Friday.

Rusty.

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