WILD seas whipped up by a low pressure system off the coast closed Main Beach, Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island on Thursday.
Surf Lifesaving Queensland lifeguard MJ Bates said the low pressure system off the coast had produced ‘washing machine’ type surf along Main Beach with 2.5 metre waves.
He said Cylinder Beach had moderate surf, but with a sweeping current and had remained open.
MJ said the waves rolling into Main Beach were more intense than the Gold Coast beaches because the drop off into deep water was closer to the beach at Straddie.
“So waves travel over shallow water for a longer distance on the Gold Coast before they get to the beach than they do at Straddie,” he said.
The wave recording buoy off Point Lookout registered a wave height peak of nearly 9 metres around noon, but the significant wave height was around 3.5m to 4.5m in the afternoon.