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Historic stretch of beach fronting Manly, one of Sydney’s affluent northern suburbs, in New South Wales, Australia; the “birthplace of Australian surfing,” according to the World Surfing Reserves; home to numerous renowned surfing talents including world champions Barton Lynch, Pam Burridge, and Layne Beachley. 

Manly Beach was named by Captain Arthur Phillip of the Royal Navy in 1788, who upon first arrival felt that the area's indigenous Australians looked rather “manly.” The name stuck, and in 1877 the town was formally incorporated as Manly. 

The beach is divided into three zones from north to south: Queenscliff, North Steyne, and South Steyne, all northeast-facing sandbar setups, and all breaking best from January through May with consistent three to five-foot surf, broken up by the odd, and much larger, cyclonic swell from February through March. 

Several reefbreaks scatter the northern and southern ends of Manly. Queenscliff Bombie is a majestic, primarily right-breaking slab wave that breaks a few hundred yards outside of the beach at Queenscliff; Fairy Bower and Winkipop (not to be confused with Victoria’s pointbreak of the same name) are two distinct and sometimes linkable sections of a meaty, powerful righthand reefbreak wave that grinds along a thumb-shaped headland at Manly’s southern end. Water temperatures range from the high 50s in summer, to the high 60s in winter. Daytime air temperatures linger in the low 80s in winter down to the low 50s in summer.

Bodysurfing has been practiced at Manly Beach since at least the turn of the 20th Century; lifesaving clubs were also in full swing early in the 1900s. It was at Freshwater Beach, just around the corner from Manly, that Hawaiian surf ambassador and gold-medal swimmer Duke Kahanamoku gave Sydeysiders a thrill with his surfing demonstrations in 1914 and 1915, sparking the Australian love affair with standup surfing. 

In 1964 Manly was also the site of the first official World Surfing Championships, won by Australians Midget Farrelly and Phyllis O’Donnell. Manly Beach was officially designated as a World Surfing Reserve in March, 2012.

Manly Beach

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