North Narrabeen Alert Guide
Sydney, NSW, Australia · part of the North Narrabeen spot guide
North Narrabeen is forecast-only — there is no NOAA buoy anywhere near Australia — so the alert runs on the GFS-Wave model and the height below is an open-ocean reading. As a beach break, the face tracks that number closely, with a wedge on the lagoon bank when the period stretches. The regional cross-check is the NSW Sydney (Long Reef) waverider, about 10 km offshore in 80–90 m of water.
The forecaster's checklist
- 1.Watch the Tasman for an East Coast Low or a low cradled by a high — those are the autumn and winter engines, arriving in hours to a day.
- 2.For the lefts, want swell from the east-north-east to east, about 50–100°; for size and the rights, south-east to south. Anything north of 40° is shadowed by the head.
- 3.Look for period of 10 seconds or more to organise the bank; 12–15 seconds is a proper groundswell.
- 4.Score a west-to-north-west offshore — winter mornings are often calm or offshore, and in summer the north-east sea breeze arrives around eleven.
- 5.Check the lagoon: a recent breakout builds the bank, a long closure flattens it. The hollowest lefts run on a low, draining tide.
Local winds & tide
Best wind: W–NW offshore — from 225° to 315° (SW–NW).
Microtidal semidiurnal, about 1.3 m spring range. Surfs at all stages; the hollow lefts are famous on a low, draining tide pulling water off the bank.
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)
- 40°–175° (NE–S)
- Wind direction (from)
- 225°–315° (SW–NW)
No representative buoy on this coast — read these numbers against the 16-day spot forecast instead.