Currumbin Alley surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 1am
5–7 ft · sets to 8
Fair-GoodBest today All day (5am–6pm)
Swell lines up; wind is tolerable.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 1am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell5.9 ft · 8 s · EMakes the wave: 100% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind7 mph from the SCross-shore to a shoreline facing 59°Moderate
- Tide-0.7 ft, risingNext high 0.1 ft at 3:54am · NAVD88, TICON gold_coast_southport-60051-aus-bom predicted (no observed source in AU)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 11 ft of water
- Energy213 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
- Water73° · air — · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (5am–6pm)
Against what Currumbin Alley likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not Good
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 1amPalm Beach, Kirra and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand over the creek-mouth delta, with the rock of Currumbin Point on the south side
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand over the creek-mouth delta, with the rock of Currumbin Point on the south side
- DepthNSW Marine LiDAR Topo-Bathy 2018 (5 m, AHD). Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like thisOne swell, uncrossed, the seafloor is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 1am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
5.9 ft at 8s from the E and nothing significant crossing it.
A single train is the cleanest case there is: the sets arrive from one angle, so the peak should sit in the same place each time instead of wandering. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.91 · 92% of modelled rays break.
Energy arrives roughly as it left deep water: this bottom neither concentrates the swell nor fans it out, so what the buoy sees is close to what you get. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
-0.7 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 11 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Wind is cross-shore
7 mph from the S, against a shoreline facing 59°.
Running across the face rather than into or against it. Less destructive than a straight onshore, but it puts a texture on the wall and can make the peak harder to read.
How Currumbin Alley worksA soft, sand-bottomed right that peels off Currumbin Point into…
A soft, sand-bottomed right that peels off Currumbin Point into the creek mouth. The Alley is where the Gold Coast learns to surf: long, forgiving and rarely more than head high, because the point strips the swell of most of its size on the way in.
- Best tidemid to high
- Best swellE–NE swell
- Suitsbeginner
1 swell train in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Currumbin Alley
- What is the best tide for Currumbin Alley?
- Currumbin Alley works best on mid to high tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Currumbin Alley?
- E–NE swell suits Currumbin Alley best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Currumbin Alley good for beginners?
- Currumbin Alley suits beginner surfers, over sand over the creek-mouth delta, with the rock of Currumbin Point on the south side. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Currumbin Alley?
- sand over the creek-mouth delta, with the rock of Currumbin Point on the south side. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Currumbin Alley on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.