Surfing SA - what's it like?

Hi Charlie and fam. Welcome to SA the freindly state.
Pretty much any where else on the swell exposed coasts is better than the hoax coast[Victor and surrounds,also known as the far]
There is a couple of big peninsulars and a big island that have some good waves, some of them seasonal, lots of them fickle.
Back to the far. It has a fair bit of swell variation in different locations, barely any setups, mostly liking those clean NNE/N wind days. Go and have a look.
The Middleton stretch [affectionally known as Dribs,Dribbos, Dribbleton or as I like to call it Old Man Beach] is reasonably consistant in the winter. Consistantly shit that is. Although you can get some nice runners on the right equipment with a lot of patience and duckdives. You can find your own little piece of ocean there.
Sounds like you are living near the mid which is the gulf coast south of Noarlunga.
This coast has nice shaped waves but hardley gets any swell[2-3ft is considered pumping] and plenty of crew and is very tide dependant. Have a look at Craigs recent article. The mid is great for kids learning to surf if the hat wearing mal guys let them have a wave.
I hope I havn't dampened your enthusiasm to much.
Head west on holidays.
Cheers.
Don't worry about the sharks. You're much more likely to drown than get eaten.
Having said that there are some places where you may more likely to get eaten than others. That might have something to do with the varying abundance of the seals.

"Surfing SA - what's it like?"

terrible... but no worse than inner melbourne...

that's victor harbour - an incredibly consistent place, ...an incredibly consistently below average place - no good set ups, no good wind potection, beaches without banks, and few blissful land hangouts, ...but quite nice... that can be good on its day, which is rare - so patience definitely required. and it usually requires a lot of driving, and local knowledge, you'll get there...

you'll probably get some fresh off the boat luck too - that's always good, and when the local knowledge developes, you'll realise how limited the place is...

enough negativity, it can be great, and often quite uncrowded, relatively...

the futher regions can be excellent, as good as anywhere, truly, but also quite fickle, and hardcore - the travel, the weather, the dry, the dust, the wind, the fles, no water, the hardcore is the existing on land as much as the surfing

and they all require lots of driving, and patience

learn to love to drive...

get a good car

did I mention the driving?

and patience...

I forgot to mention the driving.

There's a Facebook group called Epic South Oz Surf. Join it for a sobering insight into what's considered 'epic' to the poor crew that surf there....!

I've had most of the best surfs of my life in SA.
None of them were near Adelaide tho.

SA is shit. Tell ya East Coast mates.

Go back home, or better yet, go to NSW or Queensland. They're fucken sick.

As most have touched on above, very consistent down the Victor region, hardly goes flat, but scoring a decent bank, wind protection etc is tricky and you'll need to set your expectations low or take a middy/mal out at Middleton as a back up.

When it does pump though and you score the right bank without crazy rips etc, it's pretty special, but yeah those days are few and far between. A beautiful country side to drive through while scouting for waves and that's part of the adventure eh?

I was back for Christmas and know the coast inside out, usually score a fun quiet wave but I did the whole coast shuffle and ended up off Middleton which was my last resort. Was fun on the middy but guys on shorties were struggling.

Missed St Stephen's day, huh? Certain reef/bombie...bugger all cunts out all day.

Apparently

Yeah flew out that morning :/

It’s terrible. I lived in Adelaide back in a day, my wife’s from there, family etc. Surfed it all across all seasons and conditions. Sadly, I spent the last two years there again on a project I had to do (usually live on the central coast NSW). Wing foiling saved me otherwise I would go mental. I basically have one advice - drive to Yorkes even if it’s a day trip. It’s ok around Victor if you are relatively close by etc but honestly if you need to drive 1.5h to get there mind as well do that extra 1.5h and score an epic experience. That’s what I basically do these days when I’m in the area. So country SA is epic while metro (including Victor) is awful.

Adelaide's a unique place that's unreal for a really specific kind of surfer.

Someone who enjoys lots of highway miles, dusty carparks with no beachside shower and convenient grassy verge to get changed on, and fickle windows of surfing opportunity. There ain't no two-week trade flow supplying endless warm-water easterly swells to dozens of pointbreaks in South Oz.

I love the joint.

That being said, Adelaide was a great place to grow up in, but I couldn't do it now - I'm so busy with work and family these days, I'd rarely get a chance to surf.

Living in close proximity to the East Coast means I can dash out for a quick paddle if I've got a one-hour window.

Living/working and surfing in SA means - if you live in Adelaide - you've gotta be able to devote a minimum half-day looking for waves (Mid Coast or South Coast), or one-day (day trip to Yorkes, which will include at least seven hours of driving all up) or 2-3 days (West Coast).

Unreal to do from time to time, but very difficult to maintain enthusiasm for year-round if you've got other commitments. Plus the cost of maintaining a good quality vehicle and camping gear that can last the distance.

Of course, there are now viable options to live/work in some of the more remote parts of the state these days, but you'd have to have a partner with the same frame of mind.

@flollo Yorkes day trips are well worth it, used to do them quite regularly.

I haven't really been out West SA since the remote working revolution - can't imagine it'd be too over run with digital nomads. Too remote and under serviced for the ex city worker?

thermalben wrote:

Adelaide's a unique place that's unreal for a really specific kind of surfer.

Someone who enjoys lots of highway miles, dusty carparks with no beachside shower and convenient grassy verge to get changed on, and fickle windows of surfing opportunity. There ain't no two-week trade flow supplying endless warm-water easterly swells to dozens of pointbreaks in South Oz.

I love the joint.

That being said, Adelaide was a great place to grow up in, but I couldn't do it now - I'm so busy with work and family these days, I'd rarely get a chance to surf.

Living in close proximity to the East Coast means I can dash out for a quick paddle if I've got a one-hour window.

Living/working and surfing in SA means - if you live in Adelaide - you've gotta be able to devote a minimum half-day looking for waves (Mid Coast or South Coast), or one-day (day trip to Yorkes, which will include at least seven hours of driving all up) or 2-3 days (West Coast).

Unreal to do from time to time, but very difficult to maintain enthusiasm for year-round if you've got other commitments. Plus the cost of maintaining a good quality vehicle and camping gear that can last the distance.

Of course, there are now viable options to live/work in some of the more remote parts of the state these days, but you'd have to have a partner with the same frame of mind.

Aint that the truth. I did 9 trips from Victor to Yorkes for little strike missions in one little 3 month period one year.

Rule of thumb for Sth. Oz is the further you get from Adelaide, the better the surf.
Having said that, beaches west of Victor can turn it on, I think previous posts are playing it down a bit.

Yeah, I heard north of Wollongong is sick. Thirroul area

Had some of the best surfs in aus in south Australia on a certain peninsula. Epic beach and reef set ups and beautiful scenery.

cb3d wrote:

Haha, holey moley. You have me second guessing the move! Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably be reading this another 6-7 times to get it all in.
I've got a 1yo ( and potentially another ... ) So I was counting on strike missions to Vic Harbour. Might have to do a bit of soul searching, maybe Wollongong is the go!? Just need to find another $200k for a house

I did the reverse. Moved from South of Adelaide to Inner Melbourne 20 years ago. Have not until the La Nina / Covid lockdowns regretted it.
Melbourne (until recently) Consistent surf. Three coastlines and Phillip island 1.5 hours away. with offshores from SSE through to westerly depending on swell on reefs, sandbanks and a few points. Shark free. and theres always the tulla tub if you need it. plenty of uncrowded surfs (away from Torquay). lush landscapes. Generally pretty friendly crew.
Adelaide - Victor is 1 and a bit hours away but parched and unless you snag a rare bank and covered yourself with sunscreen your not going to enjoy it for much more than exercise (milo bay through to Daewoo street - i'm looking at you). If you bodyboard however there are some quality (a bit less fickle) spots which are world class we took Mike Stewart out one place in '96.
The only thing that kept me sane was marathon trips out to the other peninsulas in the kingswood enduring mouse plagues and heaby local hazing getting pole axed onto reefs. Still get over west once a year.

That’s true about Melbourne. For the same driving effort Melbourne offers way more options compared to Adelaide. + it’s an incredible city to live in. I was there this week for work (I go there few times a year) and it’s such an entertaining place. Definitely unique compared to the rest of the country. I wouldn’t live there myself but I can see how it’s appealing to many people. If someone gave me $10k and 3 days to spend them I would do it in Melbourne for sure.