Summer Surf Destinations: When is the Best Time to Bail on Your Home Beach?

Lets be honest: Spring and Summer in Australia are not the most consistent swell-wise.

It is very rare to score consecutive days of overhead surf and favourable winds at home here during the Australian spring or summer, isn’t it?

Yes, true, there can be fun days here and there, but all too often the number of people in the lineup severely limits the number of waves you may be able to catch. Other times the flags are set up on the only bank on your local beach, or onshore sea breezes blow most open beaches out by mid morning anyway.

We all lap up the warmth, love hanging out at the beach and all, but often the amount of petrol wasted on fruitless drives in desperation to find a sheltered, 1ft wave would almost pay for a fun family summer escape.
If we are totally honest with ourselves, morning surf checks at your local beach often look a lot like the above: small, windblown and crowded.

If you can, spring or summer really are the best seasons to go away.

photo above: Joel Coleman Photography. Taken in the Solomon Islands

The Pacific comes alive with north swells from around October onwards, so by early November, PNG, Samoa and much of the South Pacific starts delivering consistent wave action.

Of course Hawaii’s North Shore and Fiji are also obvious summer destinations.

There’s many other possibilities too, like Taiwan or an off-season Mentawai jaunt.

Previously regarded a charter boat operators secret, the so-called Ments off season trips generally deliver plenty of fun, uncrowded 2-5ft waves.

So bail on your home break this summer.

Click here on any of the The Perfect Wave’s Summer Escape Destinations, and start planning your escape now before you get stranded in the midst of a fortnight-long flat spell.

Off-season Mentawai can deliver uncrowded glass, even at the name breaks.

The right, straight out the front of Aganoa, Samoa.

Perfectly uncrowded and glassy – the Solomon Islands.

Scarecrows, Mentawai in the off-season.

Maldives Southern Atolls offers great conditions in March and April.