Manly Beach Alert Guide
Sydney, NSW, Australia · part of the Manly Beach spot guide
Manly has no NDBC buoy nearby, so this is a model-swell alert read against the regional Sydney waverider. Because there is no headland wrap, the height below reads close to the breaking face — the honest-size reference on this coast.
The forecaster's checklist
- 1.Want swell from the northeast through east to south-southeast (about 90–170° at core); east and southeast for size, northeast for punch.
- 2.Look for period around 10 seconds or more to organise the banks.
- 3.Pick the bank to the swell — Queenscliff biggest and best on south, North Steyne for the best banks (the pipe rip is a paddle aid), Fairy Bower on size.
- 4.Score a west-to-northwest offshore at dawn before the northeast sea breeze fills in.
- 5.Weigh the rips, crowds and summer bluebottles; March to August is the prime window.
Local winds & tide
Best wind: W–NW offshore — from 225° to 315° (SW–NW).
Microtidal, so tide is not a hard gate; mid tide is generally favoured, with a steep shorebreak at high.
Dial it in
The dial-up: alert settings that catch it
When ALL of these line up in the 5-day forecast window, this spot is turning on.
- Open-ocean swell height
- ≥ 3 ft
- Swell period
- ≥ 10 s
- Swell direction (from)
- 30°–170° (NNE–S)
- Wind direction (from)
- 225°–315° (SW–NW)
No representative buoy on this coast — read these numbers against the 16-day spot forecast instead.