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Scarborough Beach

Western Australia · Scarborough, Perth

also known as Brighton Road, Brighton Beach, Scarbs

Part of Perth →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

wavesnot for beginnershigh crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Sep–Apr

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25

Character: thermal

Room to launch

access rules on record, below

Water

waves

22–24 °C in summerOpen Indian Ocean sand-bottom beach break

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Intermediate to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Dec Jan Feb

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Perth Airport (PER)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

Mornings are the calm part of the day. The seabreeze starts to fill around the middle of the day, is established through the afternoon and holds into the early evening.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Brighton Beachalso a name for this spot
Brighton Road / Brighton Beachno page yet
Trigg Beachno page yet
City Beachno page yet
Leighton Beachno page yet
Pinnaroo Pointno page yet

The spot

The spot and summer wind

Scarborough Beach is a real Perth kite spot, but the access riders actually use is Brighton Road, also called Brighton Beach, just south of the central foreshore. This is open Indian Ocean: sand-bottom beach break, steep shorebreak over a bank close in, no flat water anywhere.

The summer setup is the Fremantle Doctor, the southwest sea breeze that turns this west-facing beach cross-on and hands you small-to-medium surf, usually 15-25 knots from around the middle of the day into the early evening.

Expert conditions

Brighton Road is an intermediate and expert launch, and the reasons are all in the water with you: strong downwind sweep, rip channels through the bar, swimmers, surfers, windsurfers and Surf Life Saving training craft out to about 500 m. You can be riding 20 minutes after leaving the Perth CBD, and on a hot Sunday that convenience is also the problem.

Learn at Swan River, Safety Bay or Woodman Point first and come here when you can self-rescue in surf.

Season

October to February is the window on record; a wider September to April season gets quoted for the Perth coast in general.

The wind

locals call it Fremantle Doctor

Direction

cross-onW

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

W, SW and S are the working directions at the Brighton Road end; the summer Fremantle Doctor normally comes in from the southwest.

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

For a 75-85 kg rider a 9 m covers most of the working seabreeze, a 12 m handles the light early part of the day around 15 knots, and a 7 m comes out once it is honking past 25.

Character

thermal

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

15-25

Typical strength

15-25

A reliable summer thermal when the west-coast trough pattern lets it in. There is no wind station or statistical record for Scarborough itself, so read the day's forecast and the nearest live stations instead.

The main season here is October to February. A wider September to April or October to March kite season gets quoted for the Perth coast, but nothing spot-specific supports stretching Scarborough's best months past the October to February window.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan, riders' month87
Feb, riders' month89
Mar, riders' month66
Apr, riders' month38
May37
Jun33
Jul50
Aug40
Sep, riders' month53
Oct, riders' month63
Nov, riders' month65
Dec, riders' month65

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

87%Jan
89%Feb
66%Mar
38%Apr
37%May
33%Jun
50%Jul
40%Aug
53%Sep
63%Oct
65%Nov
65%Dec

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · season highlighted

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal.

Every figure, month by monthWindy days · Force 4+ · 12 kn or more · Knots · Wind from · Peaks at · Readings

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	Wind from	Peaks at	Readings
Jan	87%	97%	94%	16.9 kt	SSW	16:00	62
Feb	89%	98%	95%	15.9 kt	SSW	16:00	57
Mar	66%	97%	87%	14.8 kt	SSW	15:00	62
Apr	38%	67%	50%	12.5 kt	SW	14:00	60
May	37%	56%	44%	11.8 kt	SSW	12:00	62
Jun	33%	45%	40%	11.6 kt	ENE	13:00	60
Jul	50%	69%	65%	13.7 kt	NW	13:00	62
Aug	40%	55%	47%	13.3 kt	SSW	14:00	62
Sep	53%	75%	62%	13.8 kt	SSW	15:00	60
Oct	63%	87%	74%	14.9 kt	SSW	15:00	62
Nov	65%	82%	73%	14.2 kt	SSW	15:00	60
Dec	65%	82%	73%	14.3 kt	SSW	16:00	62

How this is modelledmodelled · 2023-2024

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

waves

Standing depth

Not a standing spot. A sandbar sits close in and can be shallow enough to touch or catch a fin around lower water, with a trough between it and the sand, and rip channels cut through the bar every hundred metres or so and run deeper again.Past the bar it is open Indian Ocean. Plan on body-dragging and self-rescuing rather than walking anything back.

Tides

Perth gets one high and one low on most days and the range is small, often half a metre to a metre - recent Scarborough readings run from about 0.6 m down to near zero. Small as that is, it reshapes the bank: lower water makes the shorebreak shallower and steeper, higher water makes the waves fatter and slower.

Temperature

22–24 °C summer · 17–20 °C winter

Wetsuit

Shorty or 2 mm top is usually enough around peak summer if windy; a spring suit is common around 18 °C and a 3/2 is sensible for the coldest windy winter or early-spring sessions.

Currents

Strong downwind sweep along Brighton Road in strong wind, plus rip channels across the bar roughly every 100-200 m on the Floreat-Scarborough beach section.

Conditions

Open Indian Ocean sand-bottom beach break. Brighton Road has steep, sucky small-to-medium waves over a sandbank close to shore with steep chop outside; Scarborough overall is an exposed beach break with lefts and rights and strong rips.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

not for beginners here

Brighton Road is rated no for beginners and yes for intermediate and expert. Shorebreak, wave traffic, swimmers, surfers, windsurfers, surf club craft and a strong downwind sweep make it a poor choice for a first independent ocean session.

The scene

What riders come here for

wavesfreeridewave ridingdownwindersfreeride in surf

Urban Perth beach strip with cafes, bars, accommodation and summer events. The kiteable Brighton Road end sits just south of the main hub and is still busy at weekends.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

4 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: ok

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

2 spots nearby

All 2 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Patrols and rescue

Four City beach inspectors patrol the Stirling beaches every day of the year, backed by sixteen casual lifeguards through the peak season - weekdays from October to March, then seven days a week in April. Scarboro Surf Life Saving Club, (08) 9341 1011, patrols on weekends and public holidays between October and April.

None of that is a kite rescue service. Assume open-ocean drift with a strong downwind push, pick a bail-out beach before you launch, and call 000 for anything on the water.

Surf Life Saving WA is on (08) 9207 6666 and Water Police on (08) 9442 8600.

Launch

The practical kite access is Brighton Road/Brighton Beach, about 400 m south of central Scarborough Beach. Local kiters rig on the grass near the Brighton Road kiosk, carry the kite to the sand, and launch/land on the beach south of the pathway near the kiosk; do not walk up the pathway with the kite in the air.

Hazards riders report 11 reported

Crowds and zones

busy beach with heavy foot traffic
Busy flagged swimming areas that can shift on summer days
Lots of swimmers, surfers and other beach users

Waves and currents

1-2m waves and other surfers/swimmers
rips near groynes
Steep shorebreak and small-to-medium beach-break waves over sandbanks close to shore
Strong downwind sweep/current in strong wind
Rip channels across the Floreat-Scarborough bar roughly every 100-200 m
Scarboro SLSC surf skis and paddle boards training up to about 500 m offshore

Other

Windsurfing area about 500 m downwind of the Brighton Road kite launch
Theft from cars at the Brighton Road carpark.

Rules & access

1 min read

Permit and alcohol rules

2026: no permit is needed for a private, non-commercial session. City approval applies to activities open to the public, events over 500 people, anything selling food or drink, and anything that affects public use of the beach or brings noise and parking impacts; those go through a reserves and beaches booking form. Alcohol is banned on City beaches and reserves under the Local Government Property Local Law 2009 and penalties apply.

Brighton Road guidance

Local guidance for the Brighton Road access, which is where kiters actually go: rig on the grass by the kiosk, launch and land on the sand south of the pathway, never walk up the pathway with a kite in the air, stay outside the red-and-yellow flags and never ride between swimmers, give way to anyone already riding a wave, and keep clear of surf club skis and paddleboards training up to about 500 m offshore and of the windsurfing area 500 m downwind. That guidance is community practice, not enforceable law, unless the council has issued something formal.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Use the Brighton Road access rather than launching in the middle of the main Scarborough swimming area.
Rig on the grass by the Brighton Road kiosk, then carry down and launch on the sand south of the pathway. Never walk up the pathway with the kite in the air.
Stay well outside the red-and-yellow flags. The surf club can extend the flagged area towards the Brighton Road pathway on busy summer days.
Pick a realistic downwind exit before you launch; the sweep along this beach is strong once the Doctor is properly in.
Give way to anyone already riding a wave, and keep clear of the surf club skis out to about 500 m and the windsurfing area 500 m downwind.
Leave nothing visible in the Brighton Road carpark. Theft from cars there is a known problem.

Getting there

Airport

Perth Airport (PER)

Route

Scarborough is about 20 minutes by car from the Perth CBD and about 30 minutes from Perth Airport, with public transport links to the beach. The free Surf CAT bus between Stirling Station and Scarborough Beach started on 30 November 2025.

Transfer

20 minutes from Perth CBD by car; about 28-30 minutes from Perth Airport by car; around 58-65 minutes by public transport from the airport.

Cost level

mid

Staying

Beachfront hotels, apartments, hostels and B&Bs along the front. Scarborough is one of the usual beach bases for a Perth trip outside the CBD.

No-wind days

Cafes and bars on the foreshore, summer entertainment at the beach amphitheatre, surfing, swimming when safe between flags, Trigg Beach, Mettams Pool and Watermans Bay nearby, Hamersley Public Golf Course, Karrinyup Shopping Centre, nature reserves and parks.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kitesurf Scarborough Beach?

The verified season runs October to February, when the Fremantle Doctor southwest sea breeze typically fills in during the afternoon.

Is Scarborough Beach suitable for beginners?

No, the Brighton Road launch is rated for intermediate and expert riders because of shorebreak, wave traffic, downwind sweep and shared use with swimmers and surfers.

What is the wind like at Scarborough Beach?

The Fremantle Doctor brings a cross-on southwest sea breeze of around 15-25 knots, usually filling in during the afternoon.

Where do you launch at Scarborough Beach?

The practical kite access is Brighton Road/Brighton Beach about 400 m south of central Scarborough, where riders rig on the grass near the kiosk and launch on the beach south of the pathway.

What hazards should kitesurfers know about at Scarborough Beach?

Hazards include steep shorebreak over sandbanks, strong downwind sweep in strong wind, rip channels roughly every 100-200 m along the bar, and shared water with swimmers, surfers and lifesaving training craft.

The bigger pictureEverything about Perth

Last updated: August 2026