Wollongong North Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, I'm Rusty. Let's have a look at what's on the table for the next couple of weeks.

Alright, straight up – this is a lean run for Wollongong North Beach. For the first ten days, the surf is tiny and mostly poor, so you'll be watching the horizon more than riding it. There's a long gap from now until around the 19th of August where there's barely anything worth paddling out for. The water temp is sitting at 64°, which is about average for this time of year, so no surprises there.

The early part of the week is a write-off. Sunday the 9th and Monday the 10th have small, choppy waves with onshore and cross-shore winds, and the combined swell energy is weak to moderate (96 to 601). Tuesday the 11th through to Saturday the 15th sees tiny 1 ft to 2 ft waves with clean conditions, but it's just not enough to get excited about. The swell energy drops way down (18 to 89). You'd be surfing mostly whitewater.

Then from Sunday the 16th, a bit of a bump shows up. Monday the 17th and Tuesday the 18th have 4 ft to 5 ft swell from the SE and E, but the period is short (7 seconds) and the winds are cross-onshore or cross-shore, making for messy, choppy conditions. The energy picks up to moderate (132 to 189) but the quality is still poor.

Now, here's the one stand-out in this whole outlook. Wednesday the 19th of August and Thursday the 20th of August are your best bets. On Wednesday morning, expect 5 ft of swell from the E with a clean cross-offshore wind from the S at just 3 mph. The combined swell energy is strong (291). The surf will be clean and surfable. But Thursday the 20th is the real gem. The morning sees 6 ft of E swell, and by the afternoon it's pushing 7 ft from the ENE with a period of 9 seconds, and the wind is light and cross-off at 6 mph. The combined energy hits a massive 1168, meaning strong wave energy. This is a solid, powerful groundswell. It's best for experienced surfers though, as anything over 8 ft is expert territory, so at 7 ft it's a heavy but manageable size for those with some skill. The clean conditions will make it a good session. After that, Friday the 21st turns to junk with onshore wind, and the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd has some cleaner but smaller 5 ft to 6 ft swell with offshore winds, but the energy is still good (355 to 551). The 23rd afternoon has strong offshore wind at 28 mph, which will make it hard to paddle into. The 24th is marginal.

So, to sum it up: the first ten days are a dud. The only real window of quality surf is Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 20th of August, with the Thursday afternoon being the standout. After that, it's a mixed bag with some potential but not as clean.

Rusty.

Read more