Fingal Head surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 11pm
5–7 ft · sets to 8
Fair-GoodNo window today · next tomorrow All day (6am–7pm)
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 11pm readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell5.7 ft · 8 s · EMakes the wave: 87% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 2.2 ft · 9 s · SESecondary: 13% of the energy. Direction at the break. Bent 16° from SE in deep water.
- Wind6 mph from the SEOnshore to a shoreline facing 93°Moderate
- Tide-1.3 ft, risingNext high 0.1 ft at 4:41am · NAVD88, TICON brunswick_heads-202403-aus-bom predicted (no observed source in AU)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 11 ft of water
- Energy216 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
- Water73° · air — · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowNone today · next Tomorrow All day (6am–7pm)
No usable window in daylight today.
Against what Fingal Head 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 11pmDuranbah, Cabarita Beach and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand over the basalt columns of the headland
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand over the basalt columns of the headland
- 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 thisTwo swells at once, the seafloor is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 11pm). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
Two swells at once
5.7 ft at 8s from the E carrying 87% of the energy, plus 2.2 ft at 9s from the SE (13%).
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 is neutral here
Kr 0.91 · 88% 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
-1.3 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 onshore
6 mph from the SE, against a shoreline facing 93°.
Pushing into the back of the wave from the sea, making it crumble and break early instead of standing up. Note this is measured against the angle THIS break faces, which is why one spot can be blown out while the one round the headland is fine.
How Fingal Head worksA right-hander off the columnar basalt headland below Cook…
A right-hander off the columnar basalt headland below Cook Island, less consistent than the Tweed points but far quieter. The island offshore takes some of the swell out of it, so it wants size.
- Best tidemid to low
- Best swellE–SE swell
- Suitsintermediate
2 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Fingal Head
- What is the best tide for Fingal Head?
- Fingal Head 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 Fingal Head?
- E–SE swell suits Fingal Head 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 Fingal Head good for beginners?
- Fingal Head suits intermediate surfers, over sand over the basalt columns of the headland. 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 Fingal Head?
- sand over the basalt columns of the headland. 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 Fingal Head on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.