The Rip Curl Pro waiting period kicked off today and while the swell was a full, slow 2ft+, it is a little puzzling that the WSL didn't pull the trigger and quickly push through the (throw-away) first round.

The outlook isn't great, and sometimes it's better to make the most of anything that's available, even if it's only small.

The coming week remains generally average but there are a couple of possible windows to run ahead of a windy, raw weekend of mid-period south-southwest swell. The final days of the waiting period are looking more promising as touched on in the early forecast, so read on for more details.

Tomorrow will be another lay day as today's slow swell drops further along with an onshore, south-southeast flow.

Thursday is an interesting one, as we're expecting a fun sized mid-period swell to build, reaching 3ft through the day and the rare bigger one isn't out of the question. This will be generated by a favourably positioned front in Victoria's southern swell window today, with the southerly direction aiding in the consistency and shape department. Winds are now looking more favourable as well, with a light offshore northerly breeze that will shift north-east through the morning ahead of weak sea breezes.

All in all we can expect fun waves at Rincon through the morning or Winki all day with the light winds and slight bump and crumble.

The swell should ease Friday from a smaller 2ft+ and with fresher northerly winds ahead of an afternoon south-west change, we're likely looking at a lay day.

On the weekend, a strong south-westerly wind will develop as a polar front merges with an eastward tracking mid-latitude low.

With wind speeds registering just below gale-force we'll see some sizey, localised mid-period S/SW swell building on Saturday, peaking Sunday afternoon to 4-5ft+ but with choppy, raw conditions thanks to the south-west wind.

Winds will ease but remain onshore out of the south-southwest on Monday (another likely lay day), ahead of slightly cleaner conditions Tuesday and easing 2-3ft surf.

Wednesday looks clean but we'll reach a low point in swell activity with some inconsistent background groundswell due to maintain 2ft to occasionally 3ft sets.

As we head into the final two days of the waiting period, we'll finally see a stronger groundswell impacting the state, generated by a strong polar low forming around the Heard Island region this weekend.

The leading global forecasting models are still divergent regarding the initial strength of the low in our far swell window, but gale-force winds should develop in our western swell window, to the south-west of Western Australia early next week.

We'll see at least moderate sized levels of groundswell and mid-period swell that should build Thursday and peak Friday in the 3-5ft range. There's room for this to be upgraded, but we'll provide updates in the comments below.

Winds are still a little uncertain as well, possibly south-west on Thursday and offshore Friday but we'll continue to monitor this closely.

Torquay 16-Day Forecast Graph and WAMs