The Pass (Byron Bay) Alert Guide

NSW, Australia · part of the The Pass (Byron Bay) spot guide

The Pass is forecast-only in our system — the nearest buoy in our set is thousands of kilometres away, with the real ground truth the NSW Byron waverider off the point. The height below is an open-ocean reading, and the wrap makes the face smaller.

The forecaster's checklist

1. 1.Read the direction first — east or east-northeast for size, southeast for the softest wrap; anything outside the northeast-to-southeast arc largely misses.
2. 2.Want period of at least 10 seconds, ideally 12 to 15, so the swell can wrap; discount short windswell.
3. 3.Halve the open-ocean height (more on a southeast swell) for the face estimate.
4. 4.Confirm a light southwest-to-west offshore in the morning; a northeast-to-east sea-breeze ruins it, and the cape shelters south and southeast winds.
5. 5.Track Coral Sea cyclones from November to May and Tasman southeast lows from May to August, using the NSW Byron waverider for ground truth.

Local winds & tide

Best wind: SW–W offshore (the cape also shelters S–SE winds) — from 180° to 292° (S–WNW).

Works across all tides — the sand configuration matters more than the tide stage. No tide series is modelled.

Dial it in