Your Weekly Surf Outlook - 21st Aug 2026.
Happy Friday! This week is kicking off strong with solid waves over the weekend, and still plenty of fun to be had during the week too.
For all our Honu Honi Fam, we have a social surf followed by a lunch out at Pearl Torquay tomorrow and it is going to be lush! You can RSVP to get the location email for the social surf via our website here using your password to access the exclusive events page.
Here’s a rough guide to what we’re expecting over the next week:
Saturday: Pretty clean though we’re expecting some double ups in the waves. Massive jump in size across the day.
Swell – Big primary SW swell with long 14-15 sec period, nearly doubling in size across the day. We do have a reasonable sized secondary SW too that will be pushing in for most of the day, creating double up waves and less rest between sets, however it’s due to all but disappear in the late arvo and early evening which should leave us with super lush clean conditions. 🤩 In the morning, we’re expecting 1-2ft at Addis and Cosy, 2-3ft Torquay, Ocean Grove, and Urquharts Bluff, 3-4ft at Juc, and 13th, 4-5ft at Guvvos, and 5-6ft at Bells, Winki, and Southside. By 6pm, we’re expecting clean 2-3ft at Fishos and White, 3-4ft at Addis and Cosy, 4-5ft at Torq, OG, and Urqs, 6-7ft at Juc and 13th, 7-8ft at Guvs, and 8-10ft with potential for occasional 11ft sets at Bells, Winki, and Southside.
Wind – Swinging from cross-offshore (WNW) to cross-onshore (WSW) across the day. Starts moderate so cleanest conditions will be breaks with some westerly cliffs or bush. Drops off a bit around 9am and then completely dies around sunset – they’re your best two options today.
Tide – Very mellow with no real low. Highs of 1.9m at both 6:04am and 5:31pm, with a low of 1.1m at 11:23am. Mid to high tide spots only today.
Sunday: Pretty bloody lush out there! Morning is the pick of the day.
Swell – We mostly have a single SW swell that’s dropping a tiny bit across the day. There is a tiny SW secondary on the forecast, that’s picking up in size as the day goes on, so we’ll likely see more double ups into the arvo and evening. First thing, we’re expecting 1-2ft at Fishos and White, 2-3ft at Addis and Cosy, 3-4ft at Torq, OG, and Urqs, 5-6ft at Juc and 13th, 6-7ft at Guvs, and 7-8ft with potential for occasional 9ft sets at Bells, Winki, and Southside. The swell is dropping across the day, and you can expect all beaches to lose 1-2ft by 6pm.
Wind – Cross-offshore (WNW) pretty much all day, and pretty mild all day. It shouldn’t impact anything though you may notice it a touch around the mid-afternoon.
Tide – No low to work with again today. Highs of 1.9m at 6:52am and 1.8m at 5:52pm, with a low of 1.2m at 12:01pm. Mid to high tide spots only today.
Monday: Clean and consistent!
Swell – We have a single SW swell with long 14 sec period, so we’re expecting very clean waves all day today. We’re hoping for 1-2ft waves at Addis and Cosy, 2-3ft at OG, Urqs, and Torq, 3-4ft at Juc, and 13th, 4-5ft at Guvvos, and 5-6ft at Bells, Winki, and Southside.
Wind – Cross-offshore (WNW) to offshore all day, and super mild again. It shouldn’t impact much at all, though again you may notice it a touch in the mid arvo.
Tide – Barely moving. Highs of 1.8m at 7:51am and 1.6m at 6:31pm, with a low of 1.3m at 12:51pm. Mid to high tide spots only today.
Tuesday: Another lush, consistent looking day.
Swell – We still have a single SW swell with 13 sec period, so another clean day of waves out there! We’re expecting 1-2ft at Fishos and White, 2-3ft at Addis and Cosy, 3-4ft at Torq, OG, and Urqs, 4-5ft at Juc and 13th, 5-6ft at Guvs, and 6-7ft at Bells, Winki, and Southside.
Wind – A little all over the place today, swinging all directions, but directly onshore for most of the day. However, it’s so mild all day, you won’t notice it at all.
Tide – Potentially the most mellow tide we’ve ever seen. High of 1.7m at 9:01am and a low of 1.4m at 2:10pm. Mid tide spots only today.
Wednesday: Mostly looking good, though there’s potential for the wind and secondary swells to push in and muck it up a bit – one to keep an eye on across the week.
Swell – We have a decent sized SW primary swell though for most of the day it’s got a lower period sitting around 8-10 secs, so we’re expecting the waves to be close together, and likely won’t have as much push to them as normal. We’ve also got two to three secondary swells popping in and out across the day from different directions and some with a bit of size. We think the forecast is unlikely, to stay as it is and are predicting that we’ll see those secondary swells in the water across the whole day but based on how the forecast is written at the moment, we’d be expecting clean waves for most of the day, with occasional double ups in the mid-morning for a couple of hours, and again for a couple of hours in the midafternoon. At this stage, we’re expecting 1-2ft at Fishos and White, 2-3ft at Addis and Cosy, 3-4ft at Torq, OG, and Urqs, 4-5ft at Juc and 13th, 5-6ft at Guvs, and 6-7ft at Bells, Winki, and Southside with potential for 8ft sets around midday. We’re likely to lose 1-2ft in size around 3pm at this stage before getting it back again, though we’re confident this will change as we get closer to the actual day.
Wind – Cross-offshore first thing in the morning before swinging cross-onshore then directly onshore for all of the afternoon. It’s got a little push to it all day – not enough to be a deal breaker for paddling out, but enough to be annoying and noticeable. Head out first thing if you have the option.
Tide – Still barely moving. High of 1.8m at 10:16am and low of 1.3m at 4:47pm. Mid to high tide spots only today.
Thursday: An absolute washing machine at this stage.
Swell – We have three swells pushing in – two from the SW, one from the SE, and our cross-swells are similar in size meaning that it’ll be creating washing machine like conditions, with shifting peaks, sideways waves, and no real predictability. It’s also going to reshuffle our sandbanks for us in real time. At this stage we’re expecting 2-3ft at Addis and Cosy (which may be touch cleaner due to protection from the SE but watch out for the inside corner rips), messy 2-3ft Torquay, Ocean Grove, Urquharts Bluff, and Juc, and 3-4ft at 13th, Guvvos, Bells, Winki, and Southside.
Wind – Cross-onshore (ESE) to cross-shore (E) all day but very mild. Shouldn’t be adding to the mess.
Tide – Slowly moving in the right direction, but still very mellow. High of 1.8m at 11:19am and low of 1.2m at 5:56pm. Mid to high tide spots only today.
Friday: Cleaning up a touch from Thu but worth keeping an eye on the forecast across the week.
Swell – At this stage we have a single SW swell with super long 17-18 sec period (🤯) which should mean good quality and strong waves. It’s unusual for us to get such a long period with smaller swell size, so it’ll be interesting to see if the forecast changes a bit between now and then. The long period will likely mean longer lulls between sets too, so a bit of patience today will be key. We do have two SE secondary swells on the forecast still, but they are teeny tiny. If they stay that size, you may notice the occasional weird peak coming through but overall conditions should be lush. At this stage, we’re expecting 1-2ft at Addis and Cosy, 2-3ft Torquay, Ocean Grove, and Urquharts Bluff, 3-4ft at Juc, 13th, and Guvvos, and 4-5ft at Bells, Winki, and Southside.
Wind – Offshore all day and dead all morning. It’s picking up to moderate from around 12pm onwards, so expect the waves to be a touch steeper, and require a little more effort to paddle on to.
Tide – Still moving back to a more even swing, but still mellow. High of 1.9m at 12:07pm and low of 1.1m at 6:27pm. Mid to high tide spots only today.
A note about the surf forecast: like all weather forecasts, the further away the prediction is, the more likely it is to change. Most forecasts are only vaguely accurate about four hours in advance, which is why we try and choose the locations for our surf lessons and events the night before to give us the best chance possible to have an accurate read on what will be happening out there. This forecast is to help give you an idea of where you might want to head but please check the forecast again the night before and morning of your planned surf to see if there have been any changes. Always please do a conditions check at the actual beach, because a forecast is still a forecast, and it can just be plain wrong.
If you’d like a daily email or text with detailed information on the forecast for next day (so as accurate as we can get it), you can sign up for our Tomorrow’s Forecast service via the button.
A note on wave size: we talk about the size of the waves in relation to the face or front - how big it would be if you are standing on your surfboard at the base of the wave face looking back at it. For reference, 1-2ft would be roughly knee to thigh (maybe waist) high waves.
That’s it for this week, legends! See you out in the water soon! 🌊✌️
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
