North Stradbroke Island Surf Guide

North Stradbroke Island Surf Guide

The source (of Straddie and its neighbor islands, Moreton and Fraser) is similar: ex-Ice Age meltdown and sea-level changes, helping to form sand barriers along a coastal fringe. Straddie is exposed to swell, particularly from the S-E -- an angle in which much of the Queensland coast tends to suffer. The epic wave on Stradbroke is Cylinders, a long, right point-style wave breaking along the northeast corner of the island and peeling for several hundred yards. Sand-bottomed and somewhat tidal, Cylinders needs a strong E angle and handles large surf if the sand and swell is on the money. It's incredibly wind-sensitive; any breeze from the northern quadrants and you can forget it. But as with most of this coastline, large swells tend to arrive with storm-associated S winds -- a most happy combination.

South of Cylinders around the vast headland of Point Lookout, you're roaming into exceptional beachbreak territory. Thick, powerful barrels smack close-in sandbars after reforming off outside bars. Best of all, they're sheltered by the headland from the constant summertime NE seabreeze. Far to the south, Stradbroke breaks off into an isolated sandspit island known as South Stradbroke, or TOS (The Other Side) to Gold Coast surfers, who often cross a water barrier known as the Seaway to access its beautiful beachbreaks. South Straddie's deep outside sandbars break up incoming swells into thick wedges, and the coast is angled to collect small Goldie-avoiding S swells even in less-consistent winter months.