Wilderness Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Well, I’ve had a good look at what’s coming for Wilderness over the next couple of weeks, and I’ll be straight with you – it’s a tough stretch. The whole 16-day window is mostly a write-off, with barely a ripple to get excited about. There’s a long, dry gap from now until late in the first week where you’re better off doing anything else. Let’s break it down.

We start off on Saturday the 22nd of August with nothing doing – just a tiny 0.3ft of swell from the NE at a short 8 seconds, with a cross-offshore wind. The water temp’s sitting at 85°, which is about average for this time of year, but that’s the only thing that’s normal. The combined energy is a pathetic 5 – that’s barely a breath. Sunday the 23rd and Monday the 24th are the same story: knee-high dribble at best, with cross-off winds and the odd risk of a thunderstorm. It’s flat, it’s messy, and it’s not worth paddling out for.

Tuesday the 25th sees a tiny improvement with a bit of offshore wind in the morning, but the swell’s still only 0.3ft from the NE. Honestly, it’s a skunk. Wednesday the 26th through to Friday the 28th stay poor, though Friday morning finally shows a pulse of 1ft from the NE with a period of 12 seconds, giving a combined energy of 81. That’s the first real hint of something, but it’s small and the conditions are only described as “surfable waves but very ordinary.” Not exactly a call to arms.

Then there’s a bit of a tease on Sunday the 30th of August – the afternoon shows a jump to 4ft from the NE, with a combined energy of 163, but the period is only 7 seconds and it’s blown out by a cross-offshore wind. That’s not surfable for a paddler; that’s a windswell mess. After that, it’s back to tiny, weak energy for the first few days of September, with glassy conditions on the 2nd and 4th but next to no swell. The best you’ll see is 2ft on Sunday the 6th of September, but with a short 6-second period and light cross-off wind, it’s still a frustratingly small, weak day.

So what’s the standout? Honestly, nothing deserves a gold star here. If you had to pick a window, the Friday the 28th of August morning is the least bad – that 1ft NE swell with a 12-second period gives it a bit of shape, and with light cross-off winds it might be rideable on a log. But it’s small, inconsistent, and only just surfable. For the rest, this is a classic blank run for the area – the ocean’s just not cooperating.

Rusty.

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