Some time in the near future, I need to pop, up to Phegans Bay to visit an old friend, I notice that the closest beach is Umina so I figure I could get there at sparrows fart one morning and go for a surf before I pay him a visit. I also noticed that Umina is hidden deep within Broken Bay and I'm wondering what it would take to make it work?


I'm assuming it will need a north westerly wind and a south easterly swell. But how big would the swell need to be to get in there to make the trip worthwhile?

If I knew, I could keep my eye on the charts, I know Ocean Beach has a very strong longboard club, so it can't be that bad.


Ps. 4 edits to get this right on an IPad, how come the fonts are so small? I don't remember it being this bad!

Starts with 'B' and can be epic.

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supanimal said..

Starts with 'B' and can be epic.

Can be epic? By the third image it looks ridiculous! The first image looks like one of our breaks....,

yes SA that wave is truly magnificent when it turns it on as is the crowd Tom. Its a fairly well known spot -m you need a decent swell (over 14 seconds) that bends nicely to really get it working. Any wind from the north is yr friend. I normally hit it it 2 or 3 times a yr when conditions look favourable. Sadly its so predictable that you get literally hundreds of other folk trying to do the same. I also like to be there when the tide is on its way out which further cuts down yr options.

OB - not really surfed Umina much to be honest. It seems to pick up a bit of swell and given the long and curved nature of the beach there is potential for a favourable wide wind range. Most times I have been there its been pretty average quality wave wise although like anywhere it can have its moments with some decent sand. Not sure how it is at the moment. There is one character in the Greenroom who lives down that way and he might be able to give you some decent info. There are also lots of other great little waves just north of here that are more exposed.

Thank you Ted, I think Killy over on the open ocean side may be another option, it does not look too far from where I'm going

yeah Umina can have some ok waves, surfed the wave in the photos the other week a few days it was terrible and no one should bother, not even worth it , and am most definitely not kidding, the banks at Umina are pretty average at the moment but can still get some alright waves works better on a higher tide, it picks up swell pretty much anything from a south to east and even a big NE swell, a north wind works the best, but most other winds are fine as it doesn't get to bumpy unless it's SE,

i would skip Killy and head straight to Macs or Tuda (half way between Macs and Copa), gets some good surf and it's rarely ever crowded, it's about five minutes extra in the car, but i would skip Avoca as it is super crowded constantly
hope this helps

Jarryd

Macs/Copa not crowded!! Even back in the late '60's the points were crowded when it was working!!

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LogeiaLad said..

Macs/# not crowded!! Even back in the late '60's the points were crowded when it was working!!

The points are crowded if there's any surf at all, but if you surf down the beach you get waves pretty much to yourself

Jarryd