North Narrabeen surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 8pm
2–3 ft · sets to 4
FairNo window today · next tomorrow 6am–12pm
The swell and wind hold it back.
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 8pm readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell3.8 ft · 5 s · ENEMakes the wave: 78% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.4 ft · 8 s · SSESecondary: 11% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.3 ft · 9 s · ESecondary: 10% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind14 mph from the NECross-shore to a shoreline facing 125°Strong
- Tide-0.7 ft, fallingNext low -1.5 ft at 10:31pm · NAVD88, TICON sydney_fort_denison-60370-aus-bom predicted (no observed source in AU)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 5 ft of water
- Energy41 kJHeight² × period²Marginal
- Water67° · air — · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowNone today · next Tomorrow 6am–12pm
No usable window in daylight today.
Against what North Narrabeen likesWhy it is Fair, not Fair-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 8pmDee Why Point, Curl Curl and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand over the lagoon-mouth delta against the rock wall
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand over the lagoon-mouth delta against the rock wall
- 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 this3 swells at once, the seafloor spreads it, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 8pm). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
3 swells at once
3.8 ft at 5s from the ENE carrying 78% of the energy, plus 1.4 ft at 8s from the SSE (11%), plus 1.3 ft at 9s from the E (10%).
The shorter, steeper train is carrying most of the energy here, so expect a choppier, less organised lineup than the longest period in the list would suggest on its own. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor spreads it
Kr 0.80 · 92% of modelled rays break.
Energy is fanning outwards over the bottom here, so the wave arrives smaller than the open-ocean swell height suggests. Nothing is wrong with the forecast. The seafloor took the difference. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
-0.7 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 5 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
14 mph from the NE, against a shoreline facing 125°.
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 North Narrabeen worksThe lagoon entrance pushes sand against the northern rocks and…
The lagoon entrance pushes sand against the northern rocks and builds the best left in Sydney — long, hollow and rippable, the wave that made the Northern Beaches a proving ground. It needs the bank as much as the swell, and both come and go.
- Best tidemid to low
- Best swellS–SE groundswell
- Suitsadvanced
3 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about North Narrabeen
- What is the best tide for North Narrabeen?
- North Narrabeen works best on mid to low 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 North Narrabeen?
- S–SE groundswell suits North Narrabeen 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 North Narrabeen good for beginners?
- North Narrabeen suits advanced surfers, over sand over the lagoon-mouth delta against the rock wall. 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 North Narrabeen?
- sand over the lagoon-mouth delta against the rock wall. 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 North Narrabeen on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.