Victorian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday July 11th)

Best Days: Friday morning Surf Coast, Saturday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small, inconsistent W/SW groundswell building tomorrow, peaking in the PM, easing Wed
• Light W/NW tending fresh S/SW winds tomorrow PM, strong SW Wed (outside chance of early W'ly on the Surf Coast)
• NW tending SW winds Thu but small to tiny
• New mix of W/SW and SW swells Fri with NW tending SW winds
• Easing SW swell Sat with strengthening N winds
• Smaller Sun with strong N/NW tending SW winds

Recap

Poor surf on Saturday with bumpy conditions on the Surf Coast and a weak mix of swells, better on the beaches yesterday and improving all day with an inconsistent mid-period SW swell and favourable winds. There was a small hint of SE groundswell on the buoys but surfwise, nothing too special as a result from this small signal.

Today the swell has faded leaving tiny waves across all locations, most surfable on the exposed beaches.

This week and weekend (Jul 12 - 17)

Looking at the week ahead and it’s not especially great with improving options and waves due from later in the week and into the weekend.

A weakening frontal progression currently moving in from the west should bring with it a change during tomorrow and building, inconsistent W/SW groundswell. The morning looks clean on the Surf Coast with light W/NW breezes, but swell wise it only looks to be 1-2ft. A trough will bring a fresh S/SW change into the afternoon as the groundswell fills in a bit better, reaching 2-3ft with 4-5ft waves to the east.

Winds will remain poor as a high moves in from the west on Wednesday along with easing levels of swell, fresh to strong from the SW. There’s a chance of early W’ly winds on the Surf Coast but with the small W/SW swell energy it won’t be worth worrying about.

A NW offshore is due on Thursday morning but there isn’t expected to be any major swell in the mix. Easing 2ft sets are due on the Surf Coast with an afternoon SW change.

From Friday winds will start to swing more northerly, though be best during the weekend as another series of mid-latitude lows and fronts fire up and across Western Australia, weakening on approach to us.

Friday looks to see NW tending SW winds again, better Saturday for the beaches and strengthening from the N, with a change bringing N/NW tending SW winds on Sunday.

Swell wise a new pulse of mid-period W/SW swell and SW groundswell is expected on Friday, generated by a relatively weak but south-east tracking, strengthening frontal system mid-week. The Surf Coast should see inconsistent 3ft sets on the magnets, 4-6ft on the exposed beaches to the east, easing Saturday from 2ft to possibly 3ft and 4ft+ respectively.

Sunday looks smaller, with the swell continuing to fade into early next week but with winds looking a little unsure. In short there’s still nothing major for next week but we may see some better swell potential into the end of the month. Check back here Wednesday for the latest.