Merewether Beach Surf Season
Newcastle, NSW, Australia · part of the Merewether Beach spot guide
Autumn and winter are the season. April opens the door to Coral Sea cyclone swell and the first autumn offshores, May is rated the most consistent month — the May 2020 “day of days” fell in it — and June to August is East Coast Low territory with westerly offshores and south groundswell; the Pasha Bulker storm hit in June 2007. Spring tapers and summer runs on north-east windswell and afternoon sea breezes, with the lefts at Dixon Park the summer consolation.
The water runs from 23–26°C in late January to 16–21°C in mid-July under the East Australian Current: a 3/2 sealed suit in July, a springsuit or vest in summer. Mornings are north-west and afternoons north-east in the shoulder seasons; winter brings west and south-west offshores and the occasional southerly buster.
Where the swell comes from
Tasman Sea lows and East Coast Lows off the New South Wales coast are the big-wave engine, sending south-to-south-east swell of 10 to 14 seconds with 4-to-7-metre buoy heights in the worst storms. Southern Ocean polar lows south of the Tasman add long-period south groundswell of 14 to 17 seconds that wraps the point into its cleanest walls. A Tasman high squeezed against a Coral Sea low delivers peaky east-north-east trade swell of 8 to 11 seconds, and tropical cyclones from February to April bring east-to-north-east swell of 12 to 15 seconds for the beach.
Historic swells at Merewether Beach
The day of days
On 23–25 May 2020 a Tasman East Coast Low sent south-south-east swell under a west offshore: NSW waverider buoys read 4.8 to 6.8 m significant height, peaking above 6 m, while Third Reef produced 10-to-12-foot faces with sets to 15 — jet-ski assists, broken boards, and a session Mark Richards praised as the best he had seen at home.
The Pasha Bulker storm
The 8–9 June 2007 East Coast Low pushed the Sydney buoy to 6.4–6.9 m significant height and a 14.1 m maximum wave, with 124 km/h gusts at Newcastle and more than 300 mm of rain in the Hunter. Nothing was surfable; the 225 m bulk carrier Pasha Bulker grounded on Nobbys Beach.
Super Surfest Sunday
A massive southerly swell forced the Surfest finals from Newcastle Beach to Merewether, where Neco Padaratz and Rebecca Woods won in three-metre waves before more than 10,000 spectators — the day that moved the event here for good.
The Rip Curl Newcastle Cup
The first Championship Tour event in Australia in nearly two years ran 1–11 April 2021 on a two-foot south background and a peaky three-foot east-north-east trade swell, with north-west mornings and lay days for small surf. Finals day was three to five feet: Italo Ferreira beat Gabriel Medina 14.94–13.27 and Carissa Moore beat Isabella Nichols 15.73–8.34.