Wategos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ve got to be straight with you – Wategos is pretty quiet for the next week and a half. The whole 16-day window is a bit of a mixed bag, with mostly tiny, messy conditions. There’s a long dry spell through the first week, with hardly any rideable surf. The first real pulse of energy doesn’t show until Saturday the 19th of September, but even then, it’s only just surfable. The standout window is actually mid-week the following week, around Wednesday the 23rd of September, when a solid south-east groundswell rolls in.

Let’s start with that first mention of surf. On Saturday morning the 19th of September, we get a tiny SE swell at 4 ft, with a period of 9 seconds and moderate combined energy of 190. The wind is glassy – dead calm – so the surface will be clean as a whistle. But the swell is tiny, and it’s only a brief window before the afternoon gets choppy. The water temp is 69°F, which is about average for this time of year (the anomaly is -0.7°F), so nothing unusual there.

Then we have a real gap. Nothing worth paddling out for until Wednesday the 23rd. Most mornings after that are blown out or cross-shore, and the energy stays low.

The best session of the whole period is Wednesday afternoon the 23rd of September. The swell bumps up to 6 ft from the SE, with a period of 7 seconds (a short period swell, so it’ll be a bit sectiony and not that grunty), but the combined energy is a solid 284 – moderate to strong. The wind swings to a light breeze from the E, cross-offshore, and it’s clean. This is the one to book in. The point break at Wategos will handle it well enough, and the cross-off will keep the faces tidy. The break is very consistent and always has crowd potential, so expect company.

After that, Thursday the 24th holds similar size – 5 ft to 6 ft SE swell – but the wind picks up to a moderate breeze, making it less appealing. The rest of the window into the start of October is mostly cross-shore, onshore, or just messy. The swell stays around 5 ft to 6 ft, but the combined energy gets high (even hitting 539 on Sunday the 27th), but the wind direction is cross or onshore, so the quality is poor. For beginners, the 5 ft+ days in the second week might be a bit much, and over 8 ft doesn’t happen, so no expert-only days.

Honestly, it’s not a classic run. The one real standout is that Wednesday afternoon the 23rd – get on it if you can. For the rest, you’re better off waiting for a better forecast.

Rusty.

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