Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Guy Dixon (issued Wednesday 29th June)

Best Days: Thursday and Saturday.

Recap: 

Plenty of good options have been on offer up and down the NSW coast over the past couple of days, with light west/northwesterly winds persisting and only tending southwesterly briefly on Tuesday.

As for size, the bigger sets were breaking up to 6ft along the Hunter coast on Tuesday, more so in the 3-5ft further south. This energy has eased today, although there have been some rippable 3ft+ sets at exposed south facing beaches throughtout the morning, easing further this afternoon.. 

This week (Thursday 30th - Friday 1st):

Each swell window is looking fairly dormant at the moment, with no significant systems firing up for at least the next few days. The only saving grace will be tail end southeasterly energy generated by fetches located on the southern flank of the low which provided Tuesday’s pulse.

As we see the bulk of the size continue to fade this afternoon, small amounts of southeasterly swell should keep options in the 2ft range on Thursday morning, fading gradually during the day.

Unfortunately, Friday is likely to be undersized with only small amounts of background energy breaking along the coast. We are likely to be under a prefrontal west/northwesterly flow, with improving south/southwesterly swell generating fetches only intensifying along the NSW South Coast by dark, too late for any size by the end of the day.

Conditions are likely to remain clean each day to end the week, swinging from northwesterly on Thursday to west/southwesterly by Friday afternoon. As winds aren’t likely to be an issue, take advantage of Thursday for the most size.

This weekend (Saturday 2nd - Sunday 3rd):

The situation for Saturday morning’s pulse has changed slightly since the previous forecast, unfortunately for the worse. The aforementioned south/southwesterly fetches overnight Friday night into the weekend are looking weaker and more brief with the strongest core winds slightly removed from the coast.

Nevertheless, exposed south facing beaches should pick up options in the 3-4ft range by day break on Saturday, easing fairly rapidly throughout the day. Typically under a southerly swell regime, the Hunter is likely to pick up more size due to its exposure.

With no decent prospects of significant systems to follow, Sunday is expected to be reserved for the longboarders with small remnants of southerly energy in the 1-2ft range.

Saturday is looking good with breezes persisting from the west/southwest throughout the day, tending west/northwesterly on Sunday and eventually light/variable and potentially weak onshore by the late afternoon. Saturday is definitely the day to capitalise on.

Next week (Monday 4th onward):

The first half of next week isn’t looking much better, with the only decent swell generating fronts moving in a rapid zonal motion (moving from west to east). A couple of these fronts do look to cut-off steering intense west/northwesterly fetches close to their core, however their storm track is pretty woeful, moving in a northwest to southeasterly motion leaving swell generation to a minimum.

The most exposed south swell magnets will be the only spots to consider until at least Wednesday with hints of refracted southerly energy off westerly trailing fetches in the wake of these systems.

Options should only ebbs and pulse between 1-2ft for the first half of the week, with the outside chance of the occasional stronger set, but don’t get your hopes up.

Light northwesterly breezes should dominate early next week, with the chance of only tending light northeasterly late each afternoon. There should be plenty of opportunities for a clean wave, the size (or lack thereof) will be the biggest issue.

More detail on Friday.