Most inconsistent waves in Australia

[Beanpole]

Well. I nominate Neilsen Park, Malabar and Coogee. Ballina Rivermouth could get a mention as could Double Island Point and Chinamans.

[stinky_wes]

Surely NT has some points that would work on the right cyclone swell? That is, if you don't mind the crocs, sharks and stingers!


Broughton Island has a few novelty waves with the right swell... and you'll have it all to yourself. There's a much better one in that area which will remain un-named.

[stinky_wes]

Also, my avatar breaks every blue moon.

[Hatchnam]

The southern end of the Sunshine Coast. Totally buffered out from south swells by the bay islands, and solely relies on infrequent swells from ECLs or cyclones. And seriously lacks power for the most of it.

[petulance]

Malabar is my fallback when my regular gets way too big. Coogee seems to be more of a body boarder wave when it breaks. Maybe a short fat board like a HK would suit Coogee?

[Beanpole]

Port Douglas. Saw some perfect little peelers there but little is the word.

[chrisb]

Kurnell Point (NSW); 1770 (Qld).

[Trev]

Port Douglas. Saw some perfect little peelers there but little is the word.

I watched a guy surfing very clean 2-3 footers in a little cove about halfway between Cairns and Port Douglas back in the late 1990's.
Pretty sure it was still stinger season though. <:

[Indo dreaming]

The whole north coast of Tasmania has an amazing amount of high quality reefs but sadly it very rarely gets proper swells to light them up mostly just wind swells or no swell, if it got consistent groundswell it would be one of the most surf rich coast anywhere.

I think thats a common theme lots of setups that don't get much swell seem to have great setups, either nice sand lined points or reefs that are not too eroded or something.

Although i think in warm water coral reefs, swell possibly actually helps to shape reefs grow into a better shape or so it seems.

[zingomar]

A feature of wave action erosion is that it is always acting to straight coast - erode the sand or rock that sticks out and fill in the bays. Classic rivermouth breaks usually will not produce good waves if they are too exposed as the banks get ripped away. Hence some of the mega sandbar spots are by nature inconsistent or they will not survive.

At a normally flat city beach near me the council once built a stormwater runoff out into the ocean and create a sand spit about 50 metres long to enable the work to proceed. When they finished the sandspit was there offering some mini wave potential if a big swell managed to get into the bay far enough. Well one night a waist high swell came in and I watched a few waves peel off the edges of the spit which was about two metres above sea level. There was tonnes of sand there - it looked like it could stay for months.

Well, the next morning it was gone. Not a trace or even a kink it the beach. One night of wave action by 2ft waves moved all that sand. Interesting insight into what it takes to make good banks - rips and longshore drift - without these it is closeout city